diff --git a/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py b/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
index acd8394..9bb3ba4 100644
--- a/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
+++ b/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
@@ -309,18 +309,26 @@
         commands such as GET and POST.
 
         """
-        self.raw_requestline = self.rfile.readline()
-        if not self.raw_requestline:
+        try:
+            self.raw_requestline = self.rfile.readline()
+            if not self.raw_requestline:
+                self.close_connection = 1
+                return
+            if not self.parse_request():
+                # An error code has been sent, just exit
+                return
+            mname = 'do_' + self.command
+            if not hasattr(self, mname):
+                self.send_error(501, "Unsupported method (%r)" % self.command)
+                return
+            method = getattr(self, mname)
+            method()
+            self.wfile.flush() #actually send the response if not already done.
+        except socket.timeout, e:
+            #a read or a write timed out.  Discard this connection
+            self.log_error("Request timed out: %r", e)
             self.close_connection = 1
             return
-        if not self.parse_request(): # An error code has been sent, just exit
-            return
-        mname = 'do_' + self.command
-        if not hasattr(self, mname):
-            self.send_error(501, "Unsupported method (%r)" % self.command)
-            return
-        method = getattr(self, mname)
-        method()
 
     def handle(self):
         """Handle multiple requests if necessary."""
diff --git a/Lib/DocXMLRPCServer.py b/Lib/DocXMLRPCServer.py
index 432b3c3..4064ec2 100644
--- a/Lib/DocXMLRPCServer.py
+++ b/Lib/DocXMLRPCServer.py
@@ -240,10 +240,6 @@
         self.end_headers()
         self.wfile.write(response)
 
-        # shut down the connection
-        self.wfile.flush()
-        self.connection.shutdown(1)
-
 class DocXMLRPCServer(  SimpleXMLRPCServer,
                         XMLRPCDocGenerator):
     """XML-RPC and HTML documentation server.
diff --git a/Lib/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py b/Lib/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py
index 967ac7e..5b5aced 100644
--- a/Lib/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py
+++ b/Lib/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@
 import sys
 import os
 import traceback
+import re
 try:
     import fcntl
 except ImportError:
@@ -430,6 +431,31 @@
     # paths not on this list will result in a 404 error.
     rpc_paths = ('/', '/RPC2')
 
+    #if not None, encode responses larger than this, if possible
+    encode_threshold = 1400 #a common MTU
+
+    #Override form StreamRequestHandler: full buffering of output
+    #and no Nagle.
+    wbufsize = -1
+    disable_nagle_algorithm = True
+
+    # a re to match a gzip Accept-Encoding
+    aepattern = re.compile(r"""
+                            \s* ([^\s;]+) \s*            #content-coding
+                            (;\s* q \s*=\s* ([0-9\.]+))? #q
+                            """, re.VERBOSE | re.IGNORECASE)
+
+    def accept_encodings(self):
+        r = {}
+        ae = self.headers.get("Accept-Encoding", "")
+        for e in ae.split(","):
+            match = self.aepattern.match(e)
+            if match:
+                v = match.group(3)
+                v = float(v) if v else 1.0
+                r[match.group(1)] = v
+        return r
+
     def is_rpc_path_valid(self):
         if self.rpc_paths:
             return self.path in self.rpc_paths
@@ -463,6 +489,10 @@
                 size_remaining -= len(L[-1])
             data = ''.join(L)
 
+            data = self.decode_request_content(data)
+            if data is None:
+                return #response has been sent
+
             # In previous versions of SimpleXMLRPCServer, _dispatch
             # could be overridden in this class, instead of in
             # SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher. To maintain backwards compatibility,
@@ -481,18 +511,36 @@
                 self.send_header("X-exception", str(e))
                 self.send_header("X-traceback", traceback.format_exc())
 
+            self.send_header("Content-length", "0")
             self.end_headers()
         else:
             # got a valid XML RPC response
             self.send_response(200)
             self.send_header("Content-type", "text/xml")
+            if self.encode_threshold is not None:
+                if len(response) > self.encode_threshold:
+                    q = self.accept_encodings().get("gzip", 0)
+                    if q:
+                        response = xmlrpclib.gzip_encode(response)
+                        self.send_header("Content-Encoding", "gzip")
             self.send_header("Content-length", str(len(response)))
             self.end_headers()
             self.wfile.write(response)
 
-            # shut down the connection
-            self.wfile.flush()
-            self.connection.shutdown(1)
+    def decode_request_content(self, data):
+        #support gzip encoding of request
+        encoding = self.headers.get("content-encoding", "identity").lower()
+        if encoding == "identity":
+            return data
+        if encoding == "gzip":
+            try:
+                return xmlrpclib.gzip_decode(data)
+            except ValueError:
+                self.send_response(400, "error decoding gzip content")
+        else:
+            self.send_response(501, "encoding %r not supported" % encoding)
+        self.send_header("Content-length", "0")
+        self.end_headers()
 
     def report_404 (self):
             # Report a 404 error
@@ -502,9 +550,6 @@
         self.send_header("Content-length", str(len(response)))
         self.end_headers()
         self.wfile.write(response)
-        # shut down the connection
-        self.wfile.flush()
-        self.connection.shutdown(1)
 
     def log_request(self, code='-', size='-'):
         """Selectively log an accepted request."""
diff --git a/Lib/SocketServer.py b/Lib/SocketServer.py
index 7a25d0f..73cd219 100644
--- a/Lib/SocketServer.py
+++ b/Lib/SocketServer.py
@@ -445,6 +445,7 @@
 
     def close_request(self, request):
         """Called to clean up an individual request."""
+        request.shutdown(socket.SHUT_WR)
         request.close()
 
 
@@ -610,12 +611,11 @@
         self.request = request
         self.client_address = client_address
         self.server = server
+        self.setup()
         try:
-            self.setup()
             self.handle()
-            self.finish()
         finally:
-            sys.exc_traceback = None    # Help garbage collection
+            self.finish()
 
     def setup(self):
         pass
@@ -649,12 +649,17 @@
     rbufsize = -1
     wbufsize = 0
 
+    # A timeout to apply to the request socket, if not None.
+    timeout = None
+
     # Disable nagle algoritm for this socket, if True.
     # Use only when wbufsize != 0, to avoid small packets.
     disable_nagle_algorithm = False
 
     def setup(self):
         self.connection = self.request
+        if self.timeout is not None:
+            self.connection.settimeout(self.timeout)
         if self.disable_nagle_algorithm:
             self.connection.setsockopt(socket.IPPROTO_TCP,
                                        socket.TCP_NODELAY, True)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
index 8d527c3..ce561f4 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@
 # The evt is set twice.  First when the server is ready to serve.
 # Second when the server has been shutdown.  The user must clear
 # the event after it has been set the first time to catch the second set.
-def http_server(evt, numrequests):
+def http_server(evt, numrequests, requestHandler=None):
     class TestInstanceClass:
         def div(self, x, y):
             return x // y
@@ -294,7 +294,9 @@
             s.setblocking(True)
             return s, port
 
-    serv = MyXMLRPCServer(("localhost", 0),
+    if not requestHandler:
+        requestHandler = SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler
+    serv = MyXMLRPCServer(("localhost", 0), requestHandler,
                           logRequests=False, bind_and_activate=False)
     try:
         serv.socket.settimeout(3)
@@ -348,34 +350,36 @@
 
     return False
 
-# NOTE: The tests in SimpleServerTestCase will ignore failures caused by
-# "temporarily unavailable" exceptions raised in SimpleXMLRPCServer.  This
-# condition occurs infrequently on some platforms, frequently on others, and
-# is apparently caused by using SimpleXMLRPCServer with a non-blocking socket.
-# If the server class is updated at some point in the future to handle this
-# situation more gracefully, these tests should be modified appropriately.
-
-class SimpleServerTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+class BaseServerTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    requestHandler = None
     def setUp(self):
         # enable traceback reporting
         SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer._send_traceback_header = True
 
         self.evt = threading.Event()
         # start server thread to handle requests
-        serv_args = (self.evt, 1)
+        serv_args = (self.evt, 1, self.requestHandler)
         threading.Thread(target=http_server, args=serv_args).start()
 
         # wait for the server to be ready
-        self.evt.wait()
+        self.evt.wait(10)
         self.evt.clear()
 
     def tearDown(self):
         # wait on the server thread to terminate
-        self.evt.wait()
+        self.evt.wait(10)
 
         # disable traceback reporting
         SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer._send_traceback_header = False
 
+# NOTE: The tests in SimpleServerTestCase will ignore failures caused by
+# "temporarily unavailable" exceptions raised in SimpleXMLRPCServer.  This
+# condition occurs infrequently on some platforms, frequently on others, and
+# is apparently caused by using SimpleXMLRPCServer with a non-blocking socket
+# If the server class is updated at some point in the future to handle this
+# situation more gracefully, these tests should be modified appropriately.
+
+class SimpleServerTestCase(BaseServerTestCase):
     def test_simple1(self):
         try:
             p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL)
@@ -512,6 +516,110 @@
         # This avoids waiting for the socket timeout.
         self.test_simple1()
 
+#A test case that verifies that a server using the HTTP/1.1 keep-alive mechanism
+#does indeed serve subsequent requests on the same connection
+class KeepaliveServerTestCase(BaseServerTestCase):
+    #a request handler that supports keep-alive and logs requests into a
+    #class variable
+    class RequestHandler(SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler):
+        parentClass = SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler
+        protocol_version = 'HTTP/1.1'
+        myRequests = []
+        def handle(self):
+            self.myRequests.append([])
+            return self.parentClass.handle(self)
+        def handle_one_request(self):
+            result = self.parentClass.handle_one_request(self)
+            self.myRequests[-1].append(self.raw_requestline)
+            return result
+
+    requestHandler = RequestHandler
+    def setUp(self):
+        #clear request log
+        self.RequestHandler.myRequests = []
+        return BaseServerTestCase.setUp(self)
+
+    def test_two(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL)
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        self.assertEqual(len(self.RequestHandler.myRequests), 1)
+        #we may or may not catch the final "append" with the empty line
+        self.assertTrue(len(self.RequestHandler.myRequests[-1]) >= 2)
+
+#A test case that verifies that gzip encoding works in both directions
+#(for a request and the response)
+class GzipServerTestCase(BaseServerTestCase):
+    #a request handler that supports keep-alive and logs requests into a
+    #class variable
+    class RequestHandler(SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler):
+        parentClass = SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler
+        protocol_version = 'HTTP/1.1'
+
+        def do_POST(self):
+            #store content of last request in class
+            self.__class__.content_length = int(self.headers["content-length"])
+            return self.parentClass.do_POST(self)
+    requestHandler = RequestHandler
+
+    class Transport(xmlrpclib.Transport):
+        #custom transport, stores the response length for our perusal
+        fake_gzip = False
+        def parse_response(self, response):
+            self.response_length=int(response.getheader("content-length", 0))
+            return xmlrpclib.Transport.parse_response(self, response)
+
+        def send_content(self, connection, body):
+            if self.fake_gzip:
+                #add a lone gzip header to induce decode error remotely
+                connection.putheader("Content-Encoding", "gzip")
+            return xmlrpclib.Transport.send_content(self, connection, body)
+
+    def test_gzip_request(self):
+        t = self.Transport()
+        t.encode_threshold = None
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL, transport=t)
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        a = self.RequestHandler.content_length
+        t.encode_threshold = 0 #turn on request encoding
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        b = self.RequestHandler.content_length
+        self.assertTrue(a>b)
+
+    def test_bad_gzip_request(self):
+        t = self.Transport()
+        t.encode_threshold = None
+        t.fake_gzip = True
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL, transport=t)
+        cm = self.assertRaisesRegexp(xmlrpclib.ProtocolError,
+                                     re.compile(r"\b400\b"))
+        with cm:
+            p.pow(6, 8)
+
+    def test_gsip_response(self):
+        t = self.Transport()
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL, transport=t)
+        old = self.requestHandler.encode_threshold
+        self.requestHandler.encode_threshold = None #no encoding
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        a = t.response_length
+        self.requestHandler.encode_threshold = 0 #always encode
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+        b = t.response_length
+        self.requestHandler.encode_threshold = old
+        self.assertTrue(a>b)
+
+#Test special attributes of the ServerProxy object
+class ServerProxyTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_close(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL)
+        self.assertEqual(p('close')(), None)
+
+    def test_transport(self):
+        t = xmlrpclib.Transport()
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy(URL, transport=t)
+        self.assertEqual(p('transport'), t)
+
 # This is a contrived way to make a failure occur on the server side
 # in order to test the _send_traceback_header flag on the server
 class FailingMessageClass(mimetools.Message):
@@ -693,6 +801,9 @@
     def makefile(self, x='r', y=-1):
         raise RuntimeError
 
+    def close(self):
+        pass
+
 class FakeTransport(xmlrpclib.Transport):
     """A Transport instance that records instead of sending a request.
 
@@ -703,7 +814,7 @@
 
     def make_connection(self, host):
         conn = xmlrpclib.Transport.make_connection(self, host)
-        conn._conn.sock = self.fake_socket = FakeSocket()
+        conn.sock = self.fake_socket = FakeSocket()
         return conn
 
 class TransportSubclassTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -763,6 +874,9 @@
     xmlrpc_tests = [XMLRPCTestCase, HelperTestCase, DateTimeTestCase,
          BinaryTestCase, FaultTestCase, TransportSubclassTestCase]
     xmlrpc_tests.append(SimpleServerTestCase)
+    xmlrpc_tests.append(KeepaliveServerTestCase)
+    xmlrpc_tests.append(GzipServerTestCase)
+    xmlrpc_tests.append(ServerProxyTestCase)
     xmlrpc_tests.append(FailingServerTestCase)
     xmlrpc_tests.append(CGIHandlerTestCase)
 
diff --git a/Lib/xmlrpclib.py b/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
index b58030f..160b61c 100644
--- a/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
+++ b/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@
 import re, string, time, operator
 
 from types import *
+import gzip
+import socket
+import errno
+import httplib
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Internal stuff
@@ -1129,6 +1133,72 @@
     p.close()
     return u.close(), u.getmethodname()
 
+##
+# Encode a string using the gzip content encoding such as specified by the
+# Content-Encoding: gzip
+# in the HTTP header, as described in RFC 1952
+#
+# @param data the unencoded data
+# @return the encoded data
+
+def gzip_encode(data):
+    """data -> gzip encoded data
+
+    Encode data using the gzip content encoding as described in RFC 1952
+    """
+    f = StringIO.StringIO()
+    gzf = gzip.GzipFile(mode="wb", fileobj=f, compresslevel=1)
+    gzf.write(data)
+    gzf.close()
+    encoded = f.getvalue()
+    f.close()
+    return encoded
+
+##
+# Decode a string using the gzip content encoding such as specified by the
+# Content-Encoding: gzip
+# in the HTTP header, as described in RFC 1952
+#
+# @param data The encoded data
+# @return the unencoded data
+# @raises ValueError if data is not correctly coded.
+
+def gzip_decode(data):
+    """gzip encoded data -> unencoded data
+
+    Decode data using the gzip content encoding as described in RFC 1952
+    """
+    f = StringIO.StringIO(data)
+    gzf = gzip.GzipFile(mode="rb", fileobj=f)
+    try:
+        decoded = gzf.read()
+    except IOError:
+        raise ValueError("invalid data")
+    f.close()
+    gzf.close()
+    return decoded
+
+##
+# Return a decoded file-like object for the gzip encoding
+# as described in RFC 1952.
+#
+# @param response A stream supporting a read() method
+# @return a file-like object that the decoded data can be read() from
+
+class GzipDecodedResponse(gzip.GzipFile):
+    """a file-like object to decode a response encoded with the gzip
+    method, as described in RFC 1952.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, response):
+        #response doesn't support tell() and read(), required by
+        #GzipFile
+        self.stringio = StringIO.StringIO(response.read())
+        gzip.GzipFile.__init__(self, mode="rb", fileobj=self.stringio)
+
+    def close(self):
+        gzip.GzipFile.close(self)
+        self.stringio.close()
+
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # request dispatcher
@@ -1156,8 +1226,39 @@
     # client identifier (may be overridden)
     user_agent = "xmlrpclib.py/%s (by www.pythonware.com)" % __version__
 
+    #if true, we'll request gzip encoding
+    accept_gzip_encoding = True
+
+    # if positive, encode request using gzip if it exceeds this threshold
+    # note that many server will get confused, so only use it if you know
+    # that they can decode such a request
+    encode_threshold = None #None = don't encode
+
     def __init__(self, use_datetime=0):
         self._use_datetime = use_datetime
+        self._connection = (None, None)
+        self._extra_headers = []
+    ##
+    # Send a complete request, and parse the response.
+    # Retry request if a cached connection has disconnected.
+    #
+    # @param host Target host.
+    # @param handler Target PRC handler.
+    # @param request_body XML-RPC request body.
+    # @param verbose Debugging flag.
+    # @return Parsed response.
+
+    def request(self, host, handler, request_body, verbose=0):
+        #retry request once if cached connection has gone cold
+        for i in (0, 1):
+            try:
+                return self.single_request(host, handler, request_body, verbose)
+            except (socket.error, httplib.HTTPException), e:
+                retry = (errno.ECONNRESET,
+                         errno.ECONNABORTED,
+                         httplib.BadStatusLine) #close after we sent request
+                if i or e[0] not in retry:
+                    raise
 
     ##
     # Send a complete request, and parse the response.
@@ -1168,30 +1269,39 @@
     # @param verbose Debugging flag.
     # @return Parsed response.
 
-    def request(self, host, handler, request_body, verbose=0):
+    def single_request(self, host, handler, request_body, verbose=0):
         # issue XML-RPC request
 
         h = self.make_connection(host)
         if verbose:
             h.set_debuglevel(1)
 
-        self.send_request(h, handler, request_body)
-        self.send_host(h, host)
-        self.send_user_agent(h)
-        self.send_content(h, request_body)
+        try:
+            self.send_request(h, handler, request_body)
+            self.send_host(h, host)
+            self.send_user_agent(h)
+            self.send_content(h, request_body)
 
-        errcode, errmsg, headers = h.getreply(buffering=True)
+            response = h.getresponse(buffering=True)
+            if response.status == 200:
+                self.verbose = verbose
+                return self.parse_response(response)
+        except Fault:
+            raise
+        except Exception:
+            # All unexpected errors leave connection in
+            # a strange state, so we clear it.
+            self.close()
+            raise
 
-        if errcode != 200:
-            raise ProtocolError(
-                host + handler,
-                errcode, errmsg,
-                headers
-                )
-
-        self.verbose = verbose
-
-        return self.parse_response(h.getfile())
+        #discard any response data and raise exception
+        if (response.getheader("content-length", 0)):
+            response.read()
+        raise ProtocolError(
+            host + handler,
+            response.status, response.reason,
+            response.msg,
+            )
 
     ##
     # Create parser.
@@ -1240,10 +1350,25 @@
     # @return A connection handle.
 
     def make_connection(self, host):
+        #return an existing connection if possible.  This allows
+        #HTTP/1.1 keep-alive.
+        if self._connection and host == self._connection[0]:
+            return self._connection[1]
+
         # create a HTTP connection object from a host descriptor
-        import httplib
-        host, extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
-        return httplib.HTTP(host)
+        chost, self._extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
+        #store the host argument along with the connection object
+        self._connection = host, httplib.HTTPConnection(chost)
+        return self._connection[1]
+
+    ##
+    # Clear any cached connection object.
+    # Used in the event of socket errors.
+    #
+    def close(self):
+        if self._connection[1]:
+            self._connection[1].close()
+            self._connection = (None, None)
 
     ##
     # Send request header.
@@ -1253,17 +1378,24 @@
     # @param request_body XML-RPC body.
 
     def send_request(self, connection, handler, request_body):
-        connection.putrequest("POST", handler)
+        if (self.accept_gzip_encoding):
+            connection.putrequest("POST", handler, skip_accept_encoding=True)
+            connection.putheader("Accept-Encoding", "gzip")
+        else:
+            connection.putrequest("POST", handler)
 
     ##
     # Send host name.
     #
     # @param connection Connection handle.
     # @param host Host name.
+    #
+    # Note: This function doesn't actually add the "Host"
+    # header anymore, it is done as part of the connection.putrequest() in
+    # send_request() above.
 
     def send_host(self, connection, host):
-        host, extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
-        connection.putheader("Host", host)
+        extra_headers = self._extra_headers
         if extra_headers:
             if isinstance(extra_headers, DictType):
                 extra_headers = extra_headers.items()
@@ -1286,6 +1418,13 @@
 
     def send_content(self, connection, request_body):
         connection.putheader("Content-Type", "text/xml")
+
+        #optionally encode the request
+        if (self.encode_threshold is not None and
+            self.encode_threshold < len(request_body)):
+            connection.putheader("Content-Encoding", "gzip")
+            request_body = gzip_encode(request_body)
+
         connection.putheader("Content-Length", str(len(request_body)))
         connection.endheaders(request_body)
 
@@ -1295,20 +1434,25 @@
     # @param file Stream.
     # @return Response tuple and target method.
 
-    def parse_response(self, file):
-        # read response from input file/socket, and parse it
+    def parse_response(self, response):
+        # read response data from httpresponse, and parse it
+        if response.getheader("Content-Encoding", "") == "gzip":
+            stream = GzipDecodedResponse(response)
+        else:
+            stream = response
 
         p, u = self.getparser()
 
         while 1:
-            response = file.read(1024)
-            if not response:
+            data = stream.read(1024)
+            if not data:
                 break
             if self.verbose:
-                print "body:", repr(response)
-            p.feed(response)
+                print "body:", repr(data)
+            p.feed(data)
 
-        file.close()
+        if stream is not response:
+            stream.close()
         p.close()
 
         return u.close()
@@ -1322,18 +1466,20 @@
     # FIXME: mostly untested
 
     def make_connection(self, host):
+        if self._connection and host == self._connection[0]:
+            return self._connection[1]
         # create a HTTPS connection object from a host descriptor
         # host may be a string, or a (host, x509-dict) tuple
-        import httplib
-        host, extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
         try:
-            HTTPS = httplib.HTTPS
+            HTTPS = httplib.HTTPSConnection
         except AttributeError:
             raise NotImplementedError(
                 "your version of httplib doesn't support HTTPS"
                 )
         else:
-            return HTTPS(host, None, **(x509 or {}))
+            chost, self._extra_headers, x509 = self.get_host_info(host)
+            self._connection = host, HTTPSConnection(chost, None, **(x509 or {}))
+            return self._connection[1]
 
 ##
 # Standard server proxy.  This class establishes a virtual connection
@@ -1398,6 +1544,9 @@
         self.__verbose = verbose
         self.__allow_none = allow_none
 
+    def __close(self):
+        self.__transport.close()
+
     def __request(self, methodname, params):
         # call a method on the remote server
 
@@ -1431,6 +1580,16 @@
     # note: to call a remote object with an non-standard name, use
     # result getattr(server, "strange-python-name")(args)
 
+    def __call__(self, attr):
+        """A workaround to get special attributes on the ServerProxy
+           without interfering with the magic __getattr__
+        """
+        if attr == "close":
+            return self.__close
+        elif attr == "transport":
+            return self.__transport
+        raise AttributeError("Attribute %r not found" % (attr,))
+
 # compatibility
 
 Server = ServerProxy