diff --git a/Lib/bsddb/dbshelve.py b/Lib/bsddb/dbshelve.py
index 354229d..1f7fdc1 100644
--- a/Lib/bsddb/dbshelve.py
+++ b/Lib/bsddb/dbshelve.py
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@
     class DictMixin: pass
 from . import db
 
+_unspecified = object()
+
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
@@ -163,18 +165,19 @@
         return self.db.associate(secondaryDB, _shelf_callback, flags)
 
 
-    #def get(self, key, default=None, txn=None, flags=0):
-    def get(self, *args, **kw):
-        # We do it with *args and **kw so if the default value wasn't
-        # given nothing is passed to the extension module.  That way
-        # an exception can be raised if set_get_returns_none is turned
-        # off.
-        data = self.db.get(*args, **kw)
-        try:
-            return pickle.loads(data)
-        except (TypeError, pickle.UnpicklingError, EOFError):
-            return data  # we may be getting the default value, or None,
-                         # so it doesn't need unpickled.
+    def get(self, key, default=_unspecified, txn=None, flags=0):
+        # If no default is given, we must not pass one to the
+        # extension module, so that an exception can be raised if
+        # set_get_returns_none is turned off.
+        if default is _unspecified:
+            data = self.db.get(key, txn=txn, flags=flags)
+            # if this returns, the default value would be None
+            default = None
+        else:
+            data = self.db.get(key, default, txn=txn, flags=flags)
+        if data is default:
+            return data
+        return pickle.loads(data)
 
     def get_both(self, key, value, txn=None, flags=0):
         data = pickle.dumps(value, self.binary)
diff --git a/Lib/bsddb/dbtables.py b/Lib/bsddb/dbtables.py
index fda1273..b5fa9eb 100644
--- a/Lib/bsddb/dbtables.py
+++ b/Lib/bsddb/dbtables.py
@@ -24,12 +24,16 @@
 import random
 import pickle
 
-try:
-    # For Pythons w/distutils pybsddb
-    from bsddb3.db import *
-except ImportError:
-    # For Python 2.3
-    from bsddb.db import *
+from bsddb.db import *
+
+# All table names, row names etc. must be ASCII strings
+def _E(s):
+    return s.encode("ascii")
+
+# Yet, rowid are arbitrary bytes; if there is a need to hash
+# them, convert them to Latin-1 first
+def _D(s):
+    return s.decode("latin-1")
 
 # XXX(nnorwitz): is this correct? DBIncompleteError is conditional in _bsddb.c
 try:
@@ -90,11 +94,11 @@
 #
 # keys used to store database metadata
 #
-_table_names_key = b'__TABLE_NAMES__'  # list of the tables in this db
-_columns = b'._COLUMNS__'  # table_name+this key contains a list of columns
+_table_names_key = '__TABLE_NAMES__'  # list of the tables in this db
+_columns = '._COLUMNS__'  # table_name+this key contains a list of columns
 
 def _columns_key(table):
-    return table + _columns
+    return _E(table + _columns)
 
 #
 # these keys are found within table sub databases
@@ -105,19 +109,19 @@
 _rowid_str_len = 8   # length in bytes of the unique rowid strings
 
 def _data_key(table, col, rowid):
-    return table + _data + col + _data + rowid
+    return _E(table + _data + col + _data) + rowid
 
 def _search_col_data_key(table, col):
-    return table + _data + col + _data
+    return _E(table + _data + col + _data)
 
 def _search_all_data_key(table):
-    return table + _data
+    return _E(table + _data)
 
 def _rowid_key(table, rowid):
-    return table + _rowid + rowid + _rowid
+    return _E(table + _rowid) + rowid + _E(_rowid)
 
 def _search_rowid_key(table):
-    return table + _rowid
+    return _E(table + _rowid)
 
 def contains_metastrings(s) :
     """Verify that the given string does not contain any
@@ -171,8 +175,8 @@
         # Initialize the table names list if this is a new database
         txn = self.env.txn_begin()
         try:
-            if not self.db.has_key(_table_names_key, txn):
-                self.db.put(_table_names_key, pickle.dumps([], 1), txn=txn)
+            if not self.db.has_key(_E(_table_names_key), txn):
+                self.db.put(_E(_table_names_key), pickle.dumps([], 1), txn=txn)
         # Yes, bare except
         except:
             txn.abort()
@@ -250,12 +254,12 @@
             self.db.put(columnlist_key, pickle.dumps(columns, 1), txn=txn)
 
             # add the table name to the tablelist
-            tablelist = pickle.loads(self.db.get(_table_names_key, txn=txn,
+            tablelist = pickle.loads(self.db.get(_E(_table_names_key), txn=txn,
                                                  flags=DB_RMW))
             tablelist.append(table)
             # delete 1st, in case we opened with DB_DUP
-            self.db.delete(_table_names_key, txn)
-            self.db.put(_table_names_key, pickle.dumps(tablelist, 1), txn=txn)
+            self.db.delete(_E(_table_names_key), txn)
+            self.db.put(_E(_table_names_key), pickle.dumps(tablelist, 1), txn=txn)
 
             txn.commit()
             txn = None
@@ -284,7 +288,7 @@
 
     def ListTables(self):
         """Return a list of tables in this database."""
-        pickledtablelist = self.db.get(_table_names_key)
+        pickledtablelist = self.db.get(_E(_table_names_key))
         if pickledtablelist:
             return pickle.loads(pickledtablelist)
         else:
@@ -435,6 +439,7 @@
             # modify only requested columns
             columns = mappings.keys()
             for rowid in matching_rowids.keys():
+                rowid = rowid.encode("latin-1")
                 txn = None
                 try:
                     for column in columns:
@@ -598,7 +603,7 @@
                 key, data = cur.set_range(searchkey)
                 while key[:len(searchkey)] == searchkey:
                     # extract the rowid from the key
-                    rowid = key[-_rowid_str_len:]
+                    rowid = _D(key[-_rowid_str_len:])
 
                     if rowid not in rejected_rowids:
                         # if no condition was specified or the condition
@@ -629,6 +634,7 @@
         # database for the matching rows.
         if len(columns) > 0:
             for rowid, rowdata in matching_rowids.items():
+                rowid = rowid.encode("latin-1")
                 for column in columns:
                     if column in rowdata:
                         continue
@@ -683,15 +689,15 @@
 
             # delete the tablename from the table name list
             tablelist = pickle.loads(
-                self.db.get(_table_names_key, txn=txn, flags=DB_RMW))
+                self.db.get(_E(_table_names_key), txn=txn, flags=DB_RMW))
             try:
                 tablelist.remove(table)
             except ValueError:
                 # hmm, it wasn't there, oh well, that's what we want.
                 pass
             # delete 1st, incase we opened with DB_DUP
-            self.db.delete(_table_names_key, txn)
-            self.db.put(_table_names_key, pickle.dumps(tablelist, 1), txn=txn)
+            self.db.delete(_E(_table_names_key), txn)
+            self.db.put(_E(_table_names_key), pickle.dumps(tablelist, 1), txn=txn)
 
             txn.commit()
             txn = None
diff --git a/Lib/bsddb/test/test_dbtables.py b/Lib/bsddb/test/test_dbtables.py
index 0701cca..2b9796d 100644
--- a/Lib/bsddb/test/test_dbtables.py
+++ b/Lib/bsddb/test/test_dbtables.py
@@ -65,7 +65,11 @@
         except dbtables.TableDBError:
             pass
         self.tdb.CreateTable(tabname, [colname])
-        self.tdb.Insert(tabname, {colname: pickle.dumps(3.14159, 1)})
+        try:
+            self.tdb.Insert(tabname, {colname: pickle.dumps(3.14159, 1)})
+        except Exception:
+            import traceback
+            traceback.print_exc()
 
         if verbose:
             self.tdb._db_print()
@@ -109,7 +113,7 @@
         else :
             if verbose:
                 print("values= %r" % (values,))
-            raise "Wrong values returned!"
+            self.fail("Wrong values returned!")
 
     def test03(self):
         tabname = "test03"