diff --git a/Doc/library/sys.rst b/Doc/library/sys.rst
index ca5d2b0..c15e55b 100644
--- a/Doc/library/sys.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/sys.rst
@@ -967,14 +967,10 @@
 .. data:: version
 
    A string containing the version number of the Python interpreter plus additional
-   information on the build number and compiler used. It has a value of the form
-   ``'version (#build_number, build_date, build_time) [compiler]'``.  The first
-   three characters are used to identify the version in the installation
-   directories (where appropriate on each platform).  An example::
-
-      >>> import sys
-      >>> sys.version
-      '1.5.2 (#0 Apr 13 1999, 10:51:12) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)]'
+   information on the build number and compiler used.  This string is displayed
+   when the interactive interpreter is started.  Do not extract version information
+   out of it, rather, use :data:`version_info` and the functions provided by the
+   :mod:`platform` module.
 
 
 .. data:: api_version
diff --git a/Lib/ntpath.py b/Lib/ntpath.py
index a124dfd..11a0a3e 100644
--- a/Lib/ntpath.py
+++ b/Lib/ntpath.py
@@ -399,6 +399,12 @@
     """Normalize path, eliminating double slashes, etc."""
     # Preserve unicode (if path is unicode)
     backslash, dot = (u'\\', u'.') if isinstance(path, unicode) else ('\\', '.')
+    if path.startswith(('\\\\.\\', '\\\\?\\')):
+        # in the case of paths with these prefixes:
+        # \\.\ -> device names
+        # \\?\ -> literal paths
+        # do not do any normalization, but return the path unchanged
+        return path
     path = path.replace("/", "\\")
     prefix, path = splitdrive(path)
     # We need to be careful here. If the prefix is empty, and the path starts
diff --git a/Lib/test/data/README b/Lib/test/data/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bf8c9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/data/README
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+This empty directory serves as destination for temporary files
+created by some tests.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ntpath.py b/Lib/test/test_ntpath.py
index a3a22ef..73645f1 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_ntpath.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ntpath.py
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@
         tester("ntpath.normpath('C:////a/b')", r'C:\a\b')
         tester("ntpath.normpath('//machine/share//a/b')", r'\\machine\share\a\b')
 
+        tester("ntpath.normpath('\\\\.\\NUL')", r'\\.\NUL')
+        tester("ntpath.normpath('\\\\?\\D:/XY\\Z')", r'\\?\D:/XY\Z')
+
     def test_expandvars(self):
         with test_support.EnvironmentVarGuard() as env:
             env.clear()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_optparse.py b/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
index ab5483b..bc8bb8a 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
@@ -791,15 +791,13 @@
         (options, args) = self.assertParseOK(["-q"],
                                              {'verbose': 0},
                                              [])
-        if hasattr(__builtins__, 'False'):
-            self.assertTrue(options.verbose is False)
+        self.assertTrue(options.verbose is False)
 
     def test_bool_true(self):
         (options, args) = self.assertParseOK(["-v"],
                                              {'verbose': 1},
                                              [])
-        if hasattr(__builtins__, 'True'):
-            self.assertTrue(options.verbose is True)
+        self.assertTrue(options.verbose is True)
 
     def test_bool_flicker_on_and_off(self):
         self.assertParseOK(["-qvq", "-q", "-v"],
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 3351f21..18ac2c8 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@
 - Issue #9448: Fix a leak of OS resources (mutexes or semaphores) when
   re-initializing a buffered IO object by calling its ``__init__`` method.
 
+- Issue #7909: Do not touch paths with the special prefixes ``\\.\``
+  or ``\\?\`` in ntpath.normpath().
+
 - Issue #5146: Handle UID THREAD command correctly in imaplib.
 
 - Issue #5147: Fix the header generated for cookie files written by
diff --git a/Python/getversion.c b/Python/getversion.c
index 7af16fc..7bd6efd 100644
--- a/Python/getversion.c
+++ b/Python/getversion.c
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 Py_GetVersion(void)
 {
 	static char version[250];
-	PyOS_snprintf(version, sizeof(version), "%.80s (%.80s) %.80s", 
+	PyOS_snprintf(version, sizeof(version), "%.80s (%.80s) %.80s",
 		      PY_VERSION, Py_GetBuildInfo(), Py_GetCompiler());
 	return version;
 }