diff --git a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
index b39b650..0e83400 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
@@ -226,6 +226,8 @@
 \versionchanged[Allowed \var{t} to be omitted]{2.1}
 \versionchanged[\exception{ValueError} raised if a field in \var{t} is
 out of range]{2.4}
+\versionchanged[0 is now a legal argument for any position in the time tuple;
+if it is normally illegal the value is forced to a correct one.]{2.5}
 
 
 The following directives can be embedded in the \var{format} string.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_time.py b/Lib/test/test_time.py
index 94bbcca..f4be759 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_time.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_time.py
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@
 
     def test_strftime_bounds_checking(self):
         # Make sure that strftime() checks the bounds of the various parts
-        #of the time tuple.
+        #of the time tuple (0 is valid for *all* values).
 
-        # Check year
+        # Check year [1900, max(int)]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1899, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
         if time.accept2dyear:
@@ -49,27 +49,27 @@
                                 (-1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
             self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                                 (100, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
-        # Check month
+        # Check month [1, 12] + zero support
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
-                            (1900, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
+                            (1900, -1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 13, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
-        # Check day of month
+        # Check day of month [1, 31] + zero support
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
-                            (1900, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
+                            (1900, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
-        # Check hour
+        # Check hour [0, 23]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 24, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1))
-        # Check minute
+        # Check minute [0, 59]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 1, -1))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 60, 0, 0, 1, -1))
-        # Check second
+        # Check second [0, 61]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 1, -1))
         # C99 only requires allowing for one leap second, but Python's docs say
@@ -82,17 +82,25 @@
         #  modulo.
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, -2, 1, -1))
-        # Check day of the year
+        # Check day of the year [1, 366] + zero support
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
-                            (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1))
+                            (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, -1))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 367, -1))
-        # Check daylight savings flag
+        # Check daylight savings flag [-1, 1]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -2))
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, time.strftime, '',
                             (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2))
 
+    def test_default_values_for_zero(self):
+        # Make sure that using all zeros uses the proper default values.
+        # No test for daylight savings since strftime() does not change output
+        # based on its value.
+        expected = "2000 01 01 00 00 00 1 001"
+        result = time.strftime("%Y %m %d %H %M %S %w %j", (0,)*9)
+        self.assertEquals(expected, result)
+
     def test_strptime(self):
         tt = time.gmtime(self.t)
         for directive in ('a', 'A', 'b', 'B', 'c', 'd', 'H', 'I',
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4c761e0..53f3dc8 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Bug #1520914: Change time.strftime() to accept a zero for any position in its
+  argument tuple.  For arguments where zero is illegal, the value is forced to
+  the minimum value that is correct.  This is to support an undocumented but
+  common way people used  to fill in inconsequential information in the time
+  tuple pre-2.4.
+
 - Patch #1220874: Update the binhex module for Mach-O.
 
 Extension Modules
diff --git a/Modules/timemodule.c b/Modules/timemodule.c
index 402e349..eb279fc9 100644
--- a/Modules/timemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/timemodule.c
@@ -406,13 +406,35 @@
             indexing blindly into some array for a textual representation
             by some bad index (fixes bug #897625).
 
-            No check for year since handled in gettmarg().
+	    Also support values of zero from Python code for arguments in which
+	    that is out of range by forcing that value to the lowest value that
+	    is valid (fixed bug #XXX).
+
+	    Valid ranges based on what is allowed in struct tm:
+
+	    - tm_year: [0, max(int)] (1)
+	    - tm_mon: [0, 11] (2)
+	    - tm_mday: [1, 31]
+	    - tm_hour: [0, 23]
+	    - tm_min: [0, 59]
+	    - tm_sec: [0, 60]
+	    - tm_wday: [0, 6] (1)
+	    - tm_yday: [0, 365] (2)
+	    - tm_isdst: [-max(int), max(int)]
+
+	    (1) gettmarg() handles bounds-checking.
+	    (2) Python's acceptable range is one greater than the range in C,
+	        thus need to check against automatic decrement by gettmarg().
         */
-        if (buf.tm_mon < 0 || buf.tm_mon > 11) {
+	if (buf.tm_mon == -1)
+	    buf.tm_mon = 0;
+	else if (buf.tm_mon < 0 || buf.tm_mon > 11) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "month out of range");
                         return NULL;
         }
-        if (buf.tm_mday < 1 || buf.tm_mday > 31) {
+	if (buf.tm_mday == 0)
+	    buf.tm_mday = 1;
+	else if (buf.tm_mday < 0 || buf.tm_mday > 31) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "day of month out of range");
                         return NULL;
         }
@@ -434,7 +456,9 @@
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "day of week out of range");
             return NULL;
         }
-        if (buf.tm_yday < 0 || buf.tm_yday > 365) {
+	if (buf.tm_yday == -1)
+	    buf.tm_yday = 0;
+	else if (buf.tm_yday < 0 || buf.tm_yday > 365) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "day of year out of range");
             return NULL;
         }