diff --git a/Doc/api/concrete.tex b/Doc/api/concrete.tex
index 98e0e03..1982bae 100644
--- a/Doc/api/concrete.tex
+++ b/Doc/api/concrete.tex
@@ -333,7 +333,9 @@
   The pointer value can be retrieved from the resulting value using
   \cfunction{PyLong_AsVoidPtr()}.
   \versionadded{1.5.2}
-\end{cfuncdesc}
+  \versionchanged[If the integer is larger than LONG_MAX,
+  a positive long integer is returned]{2.5}
+ \end{cfuncdesc}
 
 \begin{cfuncdesc}{long}{PyLong_AsLong}{PyObject *pylong}
   Return a C \ctype{long} representation of the contents of
@@ -394,6 +396,8 @@
   produce a usable \ctype{void} pointer for values created with
   \cfunction{PyLong_FromVoidPtr()}.
   \versionadded{1.5.2}
+  \versionchanged[For values outside 0..LONG_MAX, both signed and
+  unsigned integers are acccepted]{2.5}
 \end{cfuncdesc}
 
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index bac4238..fcd1738 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@
 Core and builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Patch #837242: id() of any Python object always gives a positive
+  number, which might be a long integer. PyLong_FromVoidPtr and
+  PyLong_AsVoidPtr have been changed accordingly.
+
 - Python on OS X 10.3 and above now uses dlopen() (via dynload_shlib.c) 
   to load extension modules and now provides the dl module. As a result,
   sys.setdlopenflags() now works correctly on these systems. (SF patch 
diff --git a/Objects/longobject.c b/Objects/longobject.c
index 26f78c2..49f5c3b 100644
--- a/Objects/longobject.c
+++ b/Objects/longobject.c
@@ -771,6 +771,8 @@
 PyLong_FromVoidPtr(void *p)
 {
 #if SIZEOF_VOID_P <= SIZEOF_LONG
+	if ((long)p < 0)
+		return PyLong_FromUnsignedLong((unsigned long)p);
 	return PyInt_FromLong((long)p);
 #else
 
@@ -783,7 +785,7 @@
 	/* optimize null pointers */
 	if (p == NULL)
 		return PyInt_FromLong(0);
-	return PyLong_FromLongLong((PY_LONG_LONG)p);
+	return PyLong_FromUnsignedLongLong((unsigned PY_LONG_LONG)p);
 
 #endif /* SIZEOF_VOID_P <= SIZEOF_LONG */
 }
@@ -802,8 +804,10 @@
 
 	if (PyInt_Check(vv))
 		x = PyInt_AS_LONG(vv);
-	else
+	else if (PyLong_Check(vv) && _PyLong_Sign(vv) < 0)
 		x = PyLong_AsLong(vv);
+	else
+		x = PyLong_AsUnsignedLong(vv);
 #else
 
 #ifndef HAVE_LONG_LONG
@@ -816,8 +820,10 @@
 
 	if (PyInt_Check(vv))
 		x = PyInt_AS_LONG(vv);
-	else
+	else if (PyLong_Check(vv) && _PyLong_Sign(vv) < 0)
 		x = PyLong_AsLongLong(vv);
+	else
+		x = PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong(vv);
 
 #endif /* SIZEOF_VOID_P <= SIZEOF_LONG */