Adds a Thread.getIdent() method to provide the _get_ident() value for
any given threading.Thread object.  feature request issue 2871.
diff --git a/Doc/library/threading.rst b/Doc/library/threading.rst
index 8cb84b3..a323506 100644
--- a/Doc/library/threading.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/threading.rst
@@ -651,6 +651,17 @@
    constructor.
 
 
+.. method:: Thread.getIdent()
+
+   Return the 'thread identifier' of this thread or None if the thread has not
+   been started.  This is a nonzero integer.  See the :mod:`thread` module's
+   :func:`get_ident()` function.  Thread identifiers may be recycled when a
+   thread exits and another thread is created.  The identifier is returned
+   even after the thread has exited.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
 .. method:: Thread.isAlive()
 
    Return whether the thread is alive.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threading.py b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
index 30aa9d5..b974715 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_threading.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import test.test_support
 from test.test_support import verbose
 import random
+import re
 import sys
 import threading
 import thread
@@ -72,6 +73,8 @@
         for i in range(NUMTASKS):
             t = TestThread("<thread %d>"%i, self, sema, mutex, numrunning)
             threads.append(t)
+            self.failUnlessEqual(t.getIdent(), None)
+            self.assert_(re.match('<TestThread\(.*, initial\)>', repr(t)))
             t.start()
 
         if verbose:
@@ -79,6 +82,8 @@
         for t in threads:
             t.join(NUMTASKS)
             self.assert_(not t.isAlive())
+            self.failIfEqual(t.getIdent(), 0)
+            self.assert_(re.match('<TestThread\(.*, \w+ -?\d+\)>', repr(t)))
         if verbose:
             print 'all tasks done'
         self.assertEqual(numrunning.get(), 0)
diff --git a/Lib/threading.py b/Lib/threading.py
index d497a46..0d34b6a 100644
--- a/Lib/threading.py
+++ b/Lib/threading.py
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@
         self.__args = args
         self.__kwargs = kwargs
         self.__daemonic = self._set_daemon()
+        self.__ident = None
         self.__started = Event()
         self.__stopped = False
         self.__block = Condition(Lock())
@@ -434,7 +435,9 @@
         if self.__stopped:
             status = "stopped"
         if self.__daemonic:
-            status = status + " daemon"
+            status += " daemon"
+        if self.__ident is not None:
+            status += " %s" % self.__ident
         return "<%s(%s, %s)>" % (self.__class__.__name__, self.__name, status)
 
     def start(self):
@@ -481,9 +484,10 @@
 
     def __bootstrap_inner(self):
         try:
+            self.__ident = _get_ident()
             self.__started.set()
             _active_limbo_lock.acquire()
-            _active[_get_ident()] = self
+            _active[self.__ident] = self
             del _limbo[self]
             _active_limbo_lock.release()
             if __debug__:
@@ -635,6 +639,10 @@
         assert self.__initialized, "Thread.__init__() not called"
         self.__name = str(name)
 
+    def getIdent(self):
+        assert self.__initialized, "Thread.__init__() not called"
+        return self.__ident
+
     def isAlive(self):
         assert self.__initialized, "Thread.__init__() not called"
         return self.__started.isSet() and not self.__stopped
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index f8e2983..b378956 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@
 
 - Issue #2870: cmathmodule.c compile error.
 
+- Added a threading.Thread.getIdent() method.
+
 Library
 -------