diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst
index 35562ca..a1aaf1e 100644
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst
@@ -775,6 +775,47 @@
       :meth:`~file.readline` methods.
 
 
+.. function:: sendfile(out, in, offset, nbytes)
+              sendfile(out, in, offset, nbytes, headers=None, trailers=None, flags=0)
+
+   Copy *nbytes* bytes from file descriptor *in* to file descriptor *out*
+   starting at *offset*.
+   Return the number of bytes sent. When EOF is reached return 0.
+
+   The first function notation is supported by all platforms that define
+   :func:`sendfile`.
+
+   On Linux, if *offset* is given as ``None``, the bytes are read from the
+   current position of *in* and the position of *in* is updated.
+
+   The second case may be used on Mac OS X and FreeBSD where *headers* and
+   *trailers* are arbitrary sequences of buffers that are written before and
+   after the data from *in* is written. It returns the same as the first case.
+
+   On Mac OS X and FreeBSD, a value of 0 for *nbytes* specifies to send until
+   the end of *in* is reached.
+
+   On Solaris, *out* may be the file descriptor of a regular file or the file
+   descriptor of a socket. On all other platforms, *out* must be the file
+   descriptor of an open socket.
+
+   Availability: Unix.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
+.. data:: SF_NODISKIO
+          SF_MNOWAIT
+          SF_SYNC
+
+   Parameters to the :func:`sendfile` function, if the implementation supports
+   them.
+
+   Availability: Unix.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
 .. function:: tcgetpgrp(fd)
 
    Return the process group associated with the terminal given by *fd* (an open
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
index 3e6da79..78d66fe 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
@@ -68,6 +68,19 @@
 
 * Stub
 
+os
+--
+
+The :mod:`os` module has a new :func:`~os.sendfile` function which provides an
+efficent "zero-copy" way for copying data from one file (or socket) descriptor
+to another.
+The phrase "zero-copy" refers to the fact that all of the copying of data
+between the two descriptors is done entirely by the kernel, with no copying of
+data into userspace buffers.
+:func:`~os.sendfile` can be used to efficiently copy data from a file on disk to
+a network socket, e.g. for downloading a file.
+
+(Patch submitted by Ross Lagerwall and Giampaolo Rodolà in :issue:`10882`.)
 
 Optimizations
 =============
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_os.py b/Lib/test/test_os.py
index 544eee1..59a2d63 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_os.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_os.py
@@ -15,6 +15,13 @@
 import contextlib
 import mmap
 import uuid
+import asyncore
+import asynchat
+import socket
+try:
+    import threading
+except ImportError:
+    threading = None
 
 # Detect whether we're on a Linux system that uses the (now outdated
 # and unmaintained) linuxthreads threading library.  There's an issue
@@ -1261,6 +1268,251 @@
         self.assertNotEqual(len(user_name), 0)
 
 
+class SendfileTestServer(asyncore.dispatcher, threading.Thread):
+
+    class Handler(asynchat.async_chat):
+
+        def __init__(self, conn):
+            asynchat.async_chat.__init__(self, conn)
+            self.in_buffer = []
+            self.closed = False
+            self.push(b"220 ready\r\n")
+
+        def handle_read(self):
+            data = self.recv(4096)
+            self.in_buffer.append(data)
+
+        def get_data(self):
+            return b''.join(self.in_buffer)
+
+        def handle_close(self):
+            self.close()
+            self.closed = True
+
+        def handle_error(self):
+            raise
+
+    def __init__(self, address):
+        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
+        asyncore.dispatcher.__init__(self)
+        self.create_socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        self.bind(address)
+        self.listen(5)
+        self.host, self.port = self.socket.getsockname()[:2]
+        self.handler_instance = None
+        self._active = False
+        self._active_lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    # --- public API
+
+    @property
+    def running(self):
+        return self._active
+
+    def start(self):
+        assert not self.running
+        self.__flag = threading.Event()
+        threading.Thread.start(self)
+        self.__flag.wait()
+
+    def stop(self):
+        assert self.running
+        self._active = False
+        self.join()
+
+    def wait(self):
+        # wait for handler connection to be closed, then stop the server
+        while not getattr(self.handler_instance, "closed", True):
+            time.sleep(0.001)
+        self.stop()
+
+    # --- internals
+
+    def run(self):
+        self._active = True
+        self.__flag.set()
+        while self._active and asyncore.socket_map:
+            self._active_lock.acquire()
+            asyncore.loop(timeout=0.001, count=1)
+            self._active_lock.release()
+        asyncore.close_all()
+
+    def handle_accept(self):
+        conn, addr = self.accept()
+        self.handler_instance = self.Handler(conn)
+
+    def handle_connect(self):
+        self.close()
+    handle_read = handle_connect
+
+    def writable(self):
+        return 0
+
+    def handle_error(self):
+        raise
+
+
+@unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(os, 'sendfile'), "test needs os.sendfile()")
+class TestSendfile(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    DATA = b"12345abcde" * 1024 * 1024  # 10 Mb
+    SUPPORT_HEADERS_TRAILERS = not sys.platform.startswith("linux") and \
+                               not sys.platform.startswith("solaris")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        with open(support.TESTFN, "wb") as f:
+            f.write(cls.DATA)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def tearDownClass(cls):
+        support.unlink(support.TESTFN)
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = SendfileTestServer((support.HOST, 0))
+        self.server.start()
+        self.client = socket.socket()
+        self.client.connect((self.server.host, self.server.port))
+        self.client.settimeout(1)
+        # synchronize by waiting for "220 ready" response
+        self.client.recv(1024)
+        self.sockno = self.client.fileno()
+        self.file = open(support.TESTFN, 'rb')
+        self.fileno = self.file.fileno()
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.file.close()
+        self.client.close()
+        if self.server.running:
+            self.server.stop()
+
+    def sendfile_wrapper(self, sock, file, offset, nbytes, headers=[], trailers=[]):
+        """A higher level wrapper representing how an application is
+        supposed to use sendfile().
+        """
+        while 1:
+            try:
+                if self.SUPPORT_HEADERS_TRAILERS:
+                    return os.sendfile(sock, file, offset, nbytes, headers,
+                                       trailers)
+                else:
+                    return os.sendfile(sock, file, offset, nbytes)
+            except OSError as err:
+                if err.errno == errno.ECONNRESET:
+                    # disconnected
+                    raise
+                elif err.errno in (errno.EAGAIN, errno.EBUSY):
+                    # we have to retry send data
+                    continue
+                else:
+                    raise
+
+    def test_send_whole_file(self):
+        # normal send
+        total_sent = 0
+        offset = 0
+        nbytes = 4096
+        while 1:
+            sent = self.sendfile_wrapper(self.sockno, self.fileno, offset, nbytes)
+            if sent == 0:
+                break
+            offset += sent
+            total_sent += sent
+            self.assertTrue(sent <= nbytes)
+            self.assertEqual(offset, total_sent)
+
+        self.assertEqual(total_sent, len(self.DATA))
+        self.client.close()
+        self.server.wait()
+        data = self.server.handler_instance.get_data()
+        self.assertEqual(hash(data), hash(self.DATA))
+
+    def test_send_at_certain_offset(self):
+        # start sending a file at a certain offset
+        total_sent = 0
+        offset = len(self.DATA) / 2
+        nbytes = 4096
+        while 1:
+            sent = self.sendfile_wrapper(self.sockno, self.fileno, offset, nbytes)
+            if sent == 0:
+                break
+            offset += sent
+            total_sent += sent
+            self.assertTrue(sent <= nbytes)
+
+        self.client.close()
+        self.server.wait()
+        data = self.server.handler_instance.get_data()
+        expected = self.DATA[int(len(self.DATA) / 2):]
+        self.assertEqual(total_sent, len(expected))
+        self.assertEqual(hash(data), hash(expected))
+
+    def test_offset_overflow(self):
+        # specify an offset > file size
+        offset = len(self.DATA) + 4096
+        sent = os.sendfile(self.sockno, self.fileno, offset, 4096)
+        self.assertEqual(sent, 0)
+        self.client.close()
+        self.server.wait()
+        data = self.server.handler_instance.get_data()
+        self.assertEqual(data, b'')
+
+    def test_invalid_offset(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(OSError) as cm:
+            os.sendfile(self.sockno, self.fileno, -1, 4096)
+        self.assertEqual(cm.exception.errno, errno.EINVAL)
+
+    # --- headers / trailers tests
+
+    if SUPPORT_HEADERS_TRAILERS:
+
+        def test_headers(self):
+            total_sent = 0
+            sent = os.sendfile(self.sockno, self.fileno, 0, 4096,
+                               headers=[b"x" * 512])
+            total_sent += sent
+            offset = 4096
+            nbytes = 4096
+            while 1:
+                sent = self.sendfile_wrapper(self.sockno, self.fileno,
+                                                     offset, nbytes)
+                if sent == 0:
+                    break
+                total_sent += sent
+                offset += sent
+
+            expected_data = b"x" * 512 + self.DATA
+            self.assertEqual(total_sent, len(expected_data))
+            self.client.close()
+            self.server.wait()
+            data = self.server.handler_instance.get_data()
+            self.assertEqual(hash(data), hash(expected_data))
+
+        def test_trailers(self):
+            TESTFN2 = support.TESTFN + "2"
+            f = open(TESTFN2, 'wb')
+            f.write(b"abcde")
+            f.close()
+            f = open(TESTFN2, 'rb')
+            try:
+                os.sendfile(self.sockno, f.fileno(), 0, 4096, trailers=[b"12345"])
+                self.client.close()
+                self.server.wait()
+                data = self.server.handler_instance.get_data()
+                self.assertEqual(data, b"abcde12345")
+            finally:
+                os.remove(TESTFN2)
+
+        if hasattr(os, "SF_NODISKIO"):
+            def test_flags(self):
+                try:
+                    os.sendfile(self.sockno, self.fileno, 0, 4096,
+                                flags=os.SF_NODISKIO)
+                except OSError as err:
+                    if err.errno not in (errno.EBUSY, errno.EAGAIN):
+                        raise
+
+
 def test_main():
     support.run_unittest(
         FileTests,
@@ -1281,6 +1533,7 @@
         PidTests,
         LoginTests,
         LinkTests,
+        TestSendfile,
     )
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 3ccf6aa..be3fe10 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue 10882: Add os.sendfile function.
+
 - Issue #10868: Allow usage of the register method of an ABC as a class
   decorator.
 
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 39beaba..01544b6 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -95,6 +95,20 @@
 #include <langinfo.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_SENDFILE_H
+#include <sys/sendfile.h>
+#endif
+
+#if defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__) || defined(__APPLE__)
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_SOCKET_H
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_UIO_H
+#include <sys/uio.h>
+#endif
+#endif
+
 /* Various compilers have only certain posix functions */
 /* XXX Gosh I wish these were all moved into pyconfig.h */
 #if defined(PYCC_VACPP) && defined(PYOS_OS2)
@@ -121,7 +135,7 @@
 #ifdef _MSC_VER         /* Microsoft compiler */
 #define HAVE_GETCWD     1
 #define HAVE_GETPPID    1
-#define HAVE_GETLOGIN   1 
+#define HAVE_GETLOGIN   1
 #define HAVE_SPAWNV     1
 #define HAVE_EXECV      1
 #define HAVE_PIPE       1
@@ -349,6 +363,20 @@
 #endif
 #endif
 
+int
+PyParse_off_t(PyObject* arg, void* addr)
+{
+#if !defined(HAVE_LARGEFILE_SUPPORT)
+    *((off_t*)addr) = PyLong_AsLong(arg);
+#else
+    *((off_t*)addr) = PyLong_Check(arg) ? PyLong_AsLongLong(arg)
+            : PyLong_AsLong(arg);
+#endif
+    if (PyErr_Occurred())
+        return 0;
+    return 1;
+}
+
 #if defined _MSC_VER && _MSC_VER >= 1400
 /* Microsoft CRT in VS2005 and higher will verify that a filehandle is
  * valid and throw an assertion if it isn't.
@@ -1283,7 +1311,7 @@
 
    The _w represent Unicode equivalents of the aformentioned ANSI functions. */
 
-static int 
+static int
 win32_lstat(const char* path, struct win32_stat *result)
 {
     return win32_xstat(path, result, FALSE);
@@ -1301,7 +1329,7 @@
     return win32_xstat(path, result, TRUE);
 }
 
-static int 
+static int
 win32_stat_w(const wchar_t* path, struct win32_stat *result)
 {
     return win32_xstat_w(path, result, TRUE);
@@ -2339,7 +2367,7 @@
     if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|U:listdir", &po)) {
         WIN32_FIND_DATAW wFileData;
         Py_UNICODE *wnamebuf, *po_wchars;
-        
+
         if (po == NULL) { /* Default arg: "." */
             po_wchars = L".";
             len = 1;
@@ -2741,7 +2769,7 @@
     int result_length;
     PyObject *result;
     wchar_t *path;
-    
+
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "u|:_getfinalpathname", &path)) {
         return NULL;
     }
@@ -2762,7 +2790,7 @@
         /* FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS is required to open a directory */
         FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS,
         NULL);
-    
+
     if(hFile == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
         return win32_error_unicode("GetFinalPathNamyByHandle", path);
         return PyErr_Format(PyExc_RuntimeError,
@@ -3072,7 +3100,7 @@
 
     if (GetFileAttributesExW(lpFileName, GetFileExInfoStandard, &info)) {
         is_directory = info.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY;
-        
+
         /* Get WIN32_FIND_DATA structure for the path to determine if
            it is a symlink */
         if(is_directory &&
@@ -4262,7 +4290,7 @@
 #endif
     gid_t grouplist[MAX_GROUPS];
 
-    /* On MacOSX getgroups(2) can return more than MAX_GROUPS results 
+    /* On MacOSX getgroups(2) can return more than MAX_GROUPS results
      * This is a helper variable to store the intermediate result when
      * that happens.
      *
@@ -4478,15 +4506,15 @@
 posix_getlogin(PyObject *self, PyObject *noargs)
 {
     PyObject *result = NULL;
-#ifdef MS_WINDOWS    
+#ifdef MS_WINDOWS
     wchar_t user_name[UNLEN + 1];
     DWORD num_chars = sizeof(user_name)/sizeof(user_name[0]);
 
     if (GetUserNameW(user_name, &num_chars)) {
         /* num_chars is the number of unicode chars plus null terminator */
         result = PyUnicode_FromWideChar(user_name, num_chars - 1);
-    } 
-    else 
+    }
+    else
         result = PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(GetLastError());
 #else
     char *name;
@@ -5170,12 +5198,12 @@
         FILE_FLAG_OPEN_REPARSE_POINT|FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS,
         0);
     Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
-    
+
     if (reparse_point_handle==INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
     {
         return win32_error_unicode("readlink", path);
     }
-    
+
     Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
     /* New call DeviceIoControl to read the reparse point */
     io_result = DeviceIoControl(
@@ -5246,7 +5274,7 @@
     int target_is_directory = 0;
     DWORD res;
     WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA src_info;
-    
+
     if (!check_CreateSymbolicLinkW())
     {
         /* raise NotImplementedError */
@@ -5265,7 +5293,7 @@
         Py_DECREF(src);
         return NULL;
     }
-    
+
     /* if src is a directory, ensure target_is_directory==1 */
     if(
         GetFileAttributesExW(
@@ -5288,7 +5316,7 @@
     {
         return win32_error_unicode("symlink", PyUnicode_AsUnicode(src));
     }
-    
+
     Py_INCREF(Py_None);
     return Py_None;
 }
@@ -5723,6 +5751,179 @@
     return PyLong_FromSsize_t(size);
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SENDFILE
+#if defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__) || defined(__APPLE__)
+static int
+iov_setup(struct iovec **iov, Py_buffer **buf, PyObject *seq, int cnt, int type)
+{
+    int i, j;
+    *iov = PyMem_New(struct iovec, cnt);
+    if (*iov == NULL) {
+        PyErr_NoMemory();
+        return 0;
+    }
+    *buf = PyMem_New(Py_buffer, cnt);
+    if (*buf == NULL) {
+        PyMem_Del(*iov);
+        PyErr_NoMemory();
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++) {
+        if (PyObject_GetBuffer(PySequence_GetItem(seq, i), &(*buf)[i],
+                type) == -1) {
+            PyMem_Del(*iov);
+            for (j = 0; j < i; j++) {
+                PyBuffer_Release(&(*buf)[j]);
+           }
+            PyMem_Del(*buf);
+            return 0;
+        }
+        (*iov)[i].iov_base = (*buf)[i].buf;
+        (*iov)[i].iov_len = (*buf)[i].len;
+    }
+    return 1;
+}
+
+static void
+iov_cleanup(struct iovec *iov, Py_buffer *buf, int cnt)
+{
+    int i;
+    PyMem_Del(iov);
+    for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++) {
+        PyBuffer_Release(&buf[i]);
+    }
+    PyMem_Del(buf);
+}
+#endif
+
+PyDoc_STRVAR(posix_sendfile__doc__,
+"sendfile(out, in, offset, nbytes) -> byteswritten\n\
+sendfile(out, in, offset, nbytes, headers=None, trailers=None, flags=0)\n\
+            -> byteswritten\n\
+Copy nbytes bytes from file descriptor in to file descriptor out.");
+
+static PyObject *
+posix_sendfile(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwdict)
+{
+    int in, out;
+    Py_ssize_t ret;
+    off_t offset;
+
+#if defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__) || defined(__APPLE__)
+#ifndef __APPLE__
+    Py_ssize_t len;
+#endif
+    PyObject *headers = NULL, *trailers = NULL;
+    Py_buffer *hbuf, *tbuf;
+    off_t sbytes;
+    struct sf_hdtr sf;
+    int flags = 0;
+    sf.headers = NULL;
+    sf.trailers = NULL;
+    static char *keywords[] = {"out", "in",
+                                "offset", "count",
+                                "headers", "trailers", "flags", NULL};
+
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwdict, "iiO&O&|OOi:sendfile",
+        keywords, &out, &in, PyParse_off_t, &offset, PyParse_off_t, &sbytes,
+#else
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwdict, "iiO&n|OOi:sendfile",
+        keywords, &out, &in, PyParse_off_t, &offset, &len,
+#endif
+                &headers, &trailers, &flags))
+            return NULL;
+    if (headers != NULL) {
+        if (!PySequence_Check(headers)) {
+            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+                "sendfile() headers must be a sequence or None");
+            return NULL;
+        } else {
+            sf.hdr_cnt = PySequence_Size(headers);
+            if (sf.hdr_cnt > 0 && !iov_setup(&(sf.headers), &hbuf,
+                    headers, sf.hdr_cnt, PyBUF_SIMPLE))
+                return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+    if (trailers != NULL) {
+        if (!PySequence_Check(trailers)) {
+            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+                "sendfile() trailers must be a sequence or None");
+            return NULL;
+        } else {
+            sf.trl_cnt = PySequence_Size(trailers);
+            if (sf.trl_cnt > 0 && !iov_setup(&(sf.trailers), &tbuf,
+                    trailers, sf.trl_cnt, PyBUF_SIMPLE))
+                return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
+    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    ret = sendfile(in, out, offset, &sbytes, &sf, flags);
+#else
+    ret = sendfile(in, out, offset, len, &sf, &sbytes, flags);
+#endif
+    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+
+    if (sf.headers != NULL)
+        iov_cleanup(sf.headers, hbuf, sf.hdr_cnt);
+    if (sf.trailers != NULL)
+        iov_cleanup(sf.trailers, tbuf, sf.trl_cnt);
+
+    if (ret < 0) {
+        if ((errno == EAGAIN) || (errno == EBUSY)) {
+            if (sbytes != 0) {
+                // some data has been sent
+                goto done;
+            }
+            else {
+                // no data has been sent; upper application is supposed
+                // to retry on EAGAIN or EBUSY
+                return posix_error();
+            }
+        }
+        return posix_error();
+    }
+    goto done;
+
+done:
+    #if !defined(HAVE_LARGEFILE_SUPPORT)
+        return Py_BuildValue("l", sbytes);
+    #else
+        return Py_BuildValue("L", sbytes);
+    #endif
+
+#else
+    Py_ssize_t count;
+    PyObject *offobj;
+    static char *keywords[] = {"out", "in",
+                                "offset", "count", NULL};
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwdict, "iiOn:sendfile",
+            keywords, &out, &in, &offobj, &count))
+        return NULL;
+#ifdef linux
+    if (offobj == Py_None) {
+        Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+        ret = sendfile(out, in, NULL, count);
+        Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+        if (ret < 0)
+            return posix_error();
+        Py_INCREF(Py_None);
+        return Py_BuildValue("nO", ret, Py_None);
+    }
+#endif
+    PyParse_off_t(offobj, &offset);
+    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+    ret = sendfile(out, in, &offset, count);
+    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+    if (ret < 0)
+        return posix_error();
+    return Py_BuildValue("n", ret);
+#endif
+}
+#endif
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(posix_fstat__doc__,
 "fstat(fd) -> stat result\n\n\
@@ -7971,6 +8172,10 @@
     {"lseek",           posix_lseek, METH_VARARGS, posix_lseek__doc__},
     {"read",            posix_read, METH_VARARGS, posix_read__doc__},
     {"write",           posix_write, METH_VARARGS, posix_write__doc__},
+#ifdef HAVE_SENDFILE
+    {"sendfile",        (PyCFunction)posix_sendfile, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS,
+                            posix_sendfile__doc__},
+#endif
     {"fstat",           posix_fstat, METH_VARARGS, posix_fstat__doc__},
     {"isatty",          posix_isatty, METH_VARARGS, posix_isatty__doc__},
 #ifdef HAVE_PIPE
@@ -8362,6 +8567,17 @@
     if (ins(d, "ST_NOSUID", (long)ST_NOSUID)) return -1;
 #endif /* ST_NOSUID */
 
+    /* FreeBSD sendfile() constants */
+#ifdef SF_NODISKIO
+    if (ins(d, "SF_NODISKIO", (long)SF_NODISKIO)) return -1;
+#endif
+#ifdef SF_MNOWAIT
+    if (ins(d, "SF_MNOWAIT", (long)SF_MNOWAIT)) return -1;
+#endif
+#ifdef SF_SYNC
+    if (ins(d, "SF_SYNC", (long)SF_SYNC)) return -1;
+#endif
+
 #ifdef HAVE_SPAWNV
 #if defined(PYOS_OS2) && defined(PYCC_GCC)
     if (ins(d, "P_WAIT", (long)P_WAIT)) return -1;
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index ec7b980..14b60ae 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1283,10 +1283,10 @@
 unistd.h utime.h \
 sys/audioio.h sys/bsdtty.h sys/epoll.h sys/event.h sys/file.h sys/loadavg.h \
 sys/lock.h sys/mkdev.h sys/modem.h \
-sys/param.h sys/poll.h sys/select.h sys/socket.h sys/statvfs.h sys/stat.h \
-sys/termio.h sys/time.h \
-sys/times.h sys/types.h sys/un.h sys/utsname.h sys/wait.h pty.h libutil.h \
-sys/resource.h netpacket/packet.h sysexits.h bluetooth.h \
+sys/param.h sys/poll.h sys/select.h sys/sendfile.h sys/socket.h sys/statvfs.h \
+sys/stat.h sys/termio.h sys/time.h \
+sys/times.h sys/types.h sys/uio.h sys/un.h sys/utsname.h sys/wait.h pty.h \
+libutil.h sys/resource.h netpacket/packet.h sysexits.h bluetooth.h \
 bluetooth/bluetooth.h linux/tipc.h spawn.h util.h)
 AC_HEADER_DIRENT
 AC_HEADER_MAJOR
@@ -1891,6 +1891,7 @@
 
 
 # checks for libraries
+AC_CHECK_LIB(sendfile, sendfile)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(dl, dlopen)	# Dynamic linking for SunOS/Solaris and SYSV
 AC_CHECK_LIB(dld, shl_load)	# Dynamic linking for HP-UX
 
@@ -2539,7 +2540,7 @@
  initgroups kill killpg lchmod lchown lstat mbrtowc mkfifo mknod mktime \
  mremap nice pathconf pause plock poll pthread_init \
  putenv readlink realpath \
- select sem_open sem_timedwait sem_getvalue sem_unlink setegid seteuid \
+ select sem_open sem_timedwait sem_getvalue sem_unlink sendfile setegid seteuid \
  setgid \
  setlocale setregid setreuid setresuid setresgid setsid setpgid setpgrp setuid setvbuf \
  sigaction siginterrupt sigrelse snprintf strftime strlcpy \
diff --git a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
index 833f79e..d55c1cd 100644
--- a/pyconfig.h.in
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in
@@ -1024,6 +1024,9 @@
 /* The size of `size_t', as computed by sizeof. */
 #undef SIZEOF_SIZE_T
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the `sendfile' function. */
+#undef HAVE_SENDFILE
+
 /* The size of `time_t', as computed by sizeof. */
 #undef SIZEOF_TIME_T