diff --git a/Doc/library/ssl.rst b/Doc/library/ssl.rst
index 8441eff..bd67644 100644
--- a/Doc/library/ssl.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/ssl.rst
@@ -173,6 +173,8 @@
 Some "standard" root certificates are available at
 http://www.thawte.com/roots/  (for Thawte roots) and
 http://www.verisign.com/support/roots.html  (for Verisign roots).
+See also :rfc:`4158` for more discussion of the way in which 
+certification chains can be built.
 
 
 sslsocket Objects
@@ -242,23 +244,23 @@
    the certificate), ``notBefore`` (the time before which the certificate should not be trusted),
    and ``notAfter`` (the time after which the certificate should not be trusted) filled in.
 
-   The "subject" and "issuer" fields are themselves dictionaries containing the fields given
-   in the certificate's data structure for each principal::
+   The "subject" and "issuer" fields are tuples containing the name-value fields
+   given in the certificate's data structure for each principal::
 
-      {'issuer': {'commonName': u'somemachine.python.org',
-                  'countryName': u'US',
-                  'localityName': u'Wilmington',
-                  'organizationName': u'Python Software Foundation',
-                  'organizationalUnitName': u'SSL',
-                  'stateOrProvinceName': u'Delaware'},
-       'subject': {'commonName': u'somemachine.python.org',
-                   'countryName': u'US',
-                   'localityName': u'Wilmington',
-                   'organizationName': u'Python Software Foundation',
-                   'organizationalUnitName': u'SSL',
-                   'stateOrProvinceName': u'Delaware'},
-       'notAfter': 'Sep  4 21:54:26 2007 GMT',
-       'notBefore': 'Aug 25 21:54:26 2007 GMT',
+      {'issuer': (('countryName', u'US'),
+                  ('stateOrProvinceName', u'Delaware'),
+                  ('localityName', u'Wilmington'),
+                  ('organizationName', u'Python Software Foundation'),
+                  ('organizationalUnitName', u'SSL'),
+                  ('commonName', u'somemachine.python.org')),
+       'notAfter': 'Feb 16 16:54:50 2013 GMT',
+       'notBefore': 'Aug 27 16:54:50 2007 GMT',
+       'subject': (('countryName', u'US'),
+                   ('stateOrProvinceName', u'Delaware'),
+                   ('localityName', u'Wilmington'),
+                   ('organizationName', u'Python Software Foundation'),
+                   ('organizationalUnitName', u'SSL'),
+                   ('commonName', u'somemachine.python.org')),
        'version': 2}
 
    This certificate is said to be *self-signed*, because the subject
@@ -314,27 +316,32 @@
    # note that closing the sslsocket will also close the underlying socket
    ssl_sock.close()
 
-As of August 25, 2007, the certificate printed by this program
+As of September 4, 2007, the certificate printed by this program
 looked like this::
 
-   {'issuer': {'commonName': u'VeriSign Class 3 Extended Validation SSL SGC CA',
-               'countryName': u'US',
-               'organizationName': u'VeriSign, Inc.',
-               'organizationalUnitName': u'Terms of use at https://www.verisign.com/rpa (c)06'},
-    'subject': {'1.3.6.1.4.1.311.60.2.1.2': u'Delaware',
-                '1.3.6.1.4.1.311.60.2.1.3': u'US',
-                'commonName': u'www.verisign.com',
-                'countryName': u'US',
-                'localityName': u'Mountain View',
-                'organizationName': u'VeriSign, Inc.',
-                'organizationalUnitName': u'Terms of use at www.verisign.com/rpa (c)06',
-                'postalCode': u'94043',
-                'serialNumber': u'2497886',
-                'stateOrProvinceName': u'California',
-                'streetAddress': u'487 East Middlefield Road'},
-    'notAfter': 'May  8 23:59:59 2009 GMT',
-    'notBefore': 'May  9 00:00:00 2007 GMT',
-    'version': 2}
+  {'issuer': (('countryName', u'US'),
+              ('organizationName', u'VeriSign, Inc.'),
+              ('organizationalUnitName', u'VeriSign Trust Network'),
+              ('organizationalUnitName',
+               u'Terms of use at https://www.verisign.com/rpa (c)06'),
+              ('commonName',
+               u'VeriSign Class 3 Extended Validation SSL SGC CA')),
+   'notAfter': 'May  8 23:59:59 2009 GMT',
+   'notBefore': 'May  9 00:00:00 2007 GMT',
+   'subject': (('serialNumber', u'2497886'),
+               ('1.3.6.1.4.1.311.60.2.1.3', u'US'),
+               ('1.3.6.1.4.1.311.60.2.1.2', u'Delaware'),
+               ('countryName', u'US'),
+               ('postalCode', u'94043'),
+               ('stateOrProvinceName', u'California'),
+               ('localityName', u'Mountain View'),
+               ('streetAddress', u'487 East Middlefield Road'),
+               ('organizationName', u'VeriSign, Inc.'),
+               ('organizationalUnitName', u'Production Security Services'),
+               ('organizationalUnitName',
+                u'Terms of use at www.verisign.com/rpa (c)06'),
+               ('commonName', u'www.verisign.com')),
+   'version': 2}
 
 Server-side operation
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -386,3 +393,5 @@
 `Introducing SSL and Certificates using OpenSSL <http://old.pseudonym.org/ssl/wwwj-index.html>`_, by Frederick J. Hirsch
 
 `Privacy Enhancement for Internet Electronic Mail: Part II: Certificate-Based Key Management`, :rfc:`1422`, by Steve Kent
+
+`Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile`, :rfc:`3280`, Housley et. al.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ssl.py b/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
index 35c6af9..04daab2 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ssl.py
@@ -137,18 +137,15 @@
                 cert = c2.getpeercert()
                 if not cert:
                     raise test_support.TestFailed("Can't get peer certificate.")
+                if test_support.verbose:
+                    sys.stdout.write(pprint.pformat(cert) + '\n')
                 if not cert.has_key('subject'):
                     raise test_support.TestFailed(
                         "No subject field in certificate: %s." %
                         pprint.pformat(cert))
-                if not (cert['subject'].has_key('organizationName')):
+                if not ('organizationName', 'Python Software Foundation') in cert['subject']:
                     raise test_support.TestFailed(
-                        "No 'organizationName' field in certificate subject: %s." %
-                        pprint.pformat(cert))
-                if (cert['subject']['organizationName'] !=
-                      "Python Software Foundation"):
-                    raise test_support.TestFailed(
-                        "Invalid 'organizationName' field in certificate subject; "
+                        "Missing or invalid 'organizationName' field in certificate subject; "
                         "should be 'Python Software Foundation'.");
                 c2.close()
 
@@ -336,7 +333,7 @@
 
 def test_main(verbose=False):
     if skip_expected:
-        raise test_support.TestSkipped("socket module has no ssl support")
+        raise test_support.TestSkipped("No SSL support")
 
     global CERTFILE
     CERTFILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__) or os.curdir,
diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index a1c2380..a34c3c8 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -437,12 +437,15 @@
 }
 
 static PyObject *
-_create_dict_for_X509_NAME (X509_NAME *xname)
+_create_tuple_for_X509_NAME (X509_NAME *xname)
 {
-	PyObject *pd = PyDict_New();
+	PyObject *pt = NULL;
+        PyObject *entry_tuple = NULL;
+        int entry_count = X509_NAME_entry_count(xname);
 	int index_counter;
 
-	if (pd == NULL)
+        pt = PyTuple_New(entry_count);
+	if (pt == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 
 	for (index_counter = 0;
@@ -480,18 +483,20 @@
 			Py_DECREF(name_obj);
 			goto fail0;
 		}
-		if (PyDict_SetItem(pd, name_obj, value_obj) < 0) {
+                entry_tuple = PyTuple_New(2);
+                if (entry_tuple == NULL) {
 			Py_DECREF(name_obj);
 			Py_DECREF(value_obj);
 			goto fail0;
 		}
-		Py_DECREF(name_obj);
-		Py_DECREF(value_obj);
+                PyTuple_SET_ITEM(entry_tuple, 0, name_obj);
+                PyTuple_SET_ITEM(entry_tuple, 1, value_obj);
+                PyTuple_SET_ITEM(pt, index_counter, entry_tuple);
 	}
-	return pd;
+	return pt;
 
   fail0:
-	Py_XDECREF(pd);
+	Py_XDECREF(pt);
 	return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -520,7 +525,7 @@
 	if ((verification & SSL_VERIFY_PEER) == 0)
 		return retval;
 
-	peer = _create_dict_for_X509_NAME(
+	peer = _create_tuple_for_X509_NAME(
 		X509_get_subject_name(self->peer_cert));
 	if (peer == NULL)
 		goto fail0;
@@ -530,7 +535,7 @@
 	}
 	Py_DECREF(peer);
 
-	issuer = _create_dict_for_X509_NAME(
+	issuer = _create_tuple_for_X509_NAME(
 		X509_get_issuer_name(self->peer_cert));
 	if (issuer == NULL)
 		goto fail0;