diff --git a/Lib/optparse.py b/Lib/optparse.py
index ef382aa..62d2f7e 100644
--- a/Lib/optparse.py
+++ b/Lib/optparse.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 # Python developers: please do not make changes to this file, since
 # it is automatically generated from the Optik source code.
 
-__version__ = "1.5.1+"
+__version__ = "1.5.3"
 
 __all__ = ['Option',
            'SUPPRESS_HELP',
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@
 
 
 # This file was generated from:
-#   Id: option_parser.py 522 2006-06-11 16:22:03Z gward
+#   Id: option_parser.py 527 2006-07-23 15:21:30Z greg
 #   Id: option.py 522 2006-06-11 16:22:03Z gward
-#   Id: help.py 509 2006-04-20 00:58:24Z gward
+#   Id: help.py 527 2006-07-23 15:21:30Z greg
 #   Id: errors.py 509 2006-04-20 00:58:24Z gward
 
 try:
@@ -1631,7 +1631,10 @@
 
     # used by test suite
     def _get_encoding(self, file):
-        return getattr(file, "encoding", sys.getdefaultencoding())
+        encoding = getattr(file, "encoding", None)
+        if not encoding:
+            encoding = sys.getdefaultencoding()
+        return encoding
 
     def print_help(self, file=None):
         """print_help(file : file = stdout)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_optparse.py b/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
index 9fcbe85..4582fa7 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_optparse.py
@@ -1460,10 +1460,11 @@
             make_option("--foo", action="append", type="string", dest='foo',
                         help="store FOO in the foo list for later fooing"),
             ]
-        # The parser constructor looks at the COLUMNS envar.  We need to
-        # restore the original value after the parser is constructed, else
-        # that's a permanent change possibly affecting other tests, and
-        # definitely affecting these tests when they're run multiple times.
+
+        # We need to set COLUMNS for the OptionParser constructor, but
+        # we must restore its original value -- otherwise, this test
+        # screws things up for other tests when it's part of the Python
+        # test suite.
         orig_columns = os.environ.get('COLUMNS')
         os.environ['COLUMNS'] = str(columns)
         try: