diff -r 56f71f02206e -r 9b2d2fd6c3a7 Doc/library/xmlrpc.client.rst
--- a/Doc/library/xmlrpc.client.rst	Tue Dec 16 18:17:18 2014 -0800
+++ b/Doc/library/xmlrpc.client.rst	Tue Dec 16 22:43:38 2014 -0800
@@ -32,6 +32,17 @@
    For https URIs, :mod:`xmlrpc.client` now performs all the necessary
    certificate and hostname checks by default
 
+.. versionchanged:: 3.5
+
+   The *connection_factory* parameter was added to
+   :class:`xmlrpc.client.Transport` to allow for customization of the
+   underlying :class:`http.client.HTTPConnection` and
+   :class:`http.client.HTTPSConnection` objects. This allows for
+   modifications as simple as changing the connection timeout value and as
+   complex as swapping the standard library :class:`http.client.HTTPConnection`
+   client out for an entirely customized class (note that the
+   :class:`http.client.HTTPConnection` API must still be adhered to.
+
 .. class:: ServerProxy(uri, transport=None, encoding=None, verbose=False, \
                        allow_none=False, use_datetime=False, \
                        use_builtin_types=False, *, context=None)
@@ -567,6 +578,18 @@
    server = xmlrpc.client.Server('http://time.xmlrpc.com/RPC2', transport=p)
    print(server.currentTime.getCurrentTime())
 
+To modify the underlying :class:`http.client.HTTPConnection` of the
+:class:`xmlrpc.client.Transport`, you need to provide a connection instance
+through the *connection_factory* callable. In this example, a connection object
+is provided that changes the connection timeout to 2 seconds::
+
+   import xmlrpc.client, http.client
+
+   transport = Transport(connection_factory=lambda host:
+       http.client.HTTPConnection(host, timeout=2)
+
+   proxy = ServerProxy("http://betty.userland.com", transport=transport)
+
 
 Example of Client and Server Usage
 ----------------------------------
diff -r 56f71f02206e -r 9b2d2fd6c3a7 Lib/xmlrpc/client.py
--- a/Lib/xmlrpc/client.py	Tue Dec 16 18:17:18 2014 -0800
+++ b/Lib/xmlrpc/client.py	Tue Dec 16 22:43:38 2014 -0800
@@ -1118,11 +1118,13 @@
     # that they can decode such a request
     encode_threshold = None #None = don't encode
 
-    def __init__(self, use_datetime=False, use_builtin_types=False):
+    def __init__(self, use_datetime=False, use_builtin_types=False,
+            connection_factory=lambda host: http.client.HTTPConnection(host)):
         self._use_datetime = use_datetime
         self._use_builtin_types = use_builtin_types
         self._connection = (None, None)
         self._extra_headers = []
+        self._connection_factory = connection_factory
 
     ##
     # Send a complete request, and parse the response.
@@ -1228,7 +1230,7 @@
             return self._connection[1]
         # create a HTTP connection object from a host descriptor
         chost, self._extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
-        self._connection = host, http.client.HTTPConnection(chost)
+        self._connection = host, self._connection_factory(chost)
         return self._connection[1]
 
     ##
@@ -1330,12 +1332,18 @@
 ##
 # Standard transport class for XML-RPC over HTTPS.
 
+def _safe_connection_factory(host, port, context, **kwargs):
+    return http.client.HTTPSConnection(host, port, context=context, **kwargs)
+
 class SafeTransport(Transport):
     """Handles an HTTPS transaction to an XML-RPC server."""
 
     def __init__(self, use_datetime=False, use_builtin_types=False, *,
-                 context=None):
-        super().__init__(use_datetime=use_datetime, use_builtin_types=use_builtin_types)
+            context=None, connection_factory=_safe_connection_factory):
+        super().__init__(
+                use_datetime=use_datetime,
+                use_builtin_types=use_builtin_types,
+                connection_factory=connection_factory)
         self.context = context
 
     # FIXME: mostly untested
@@ -1350,7 +1358,7 @@
         # create a HTTPS connection object from a host descriptor
         # host may be a string, or a (host, x509-dict) tuple
         chost, self._extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
-        self._connection = host, http.client.HTTPSConnection(chost,
+        self._connection = host, self._connection_factory(chost,
             None, context=self.context, **(x509 or {}))
         return self._connection[1]