diff --git a/Doc/library/fcntl.rst b/Doc/library/fcntl.rst
index 5050a7f..b3b977f 100644
--- a/Doc/library/fcntl.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/fcntl.rst
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@
    operations are typically defined in the library module :mod:`termios` and the
    argument handling is even more complicated.
 
+   The op parameter is limited to values that can fit in 32-bits.
+
    The parameter *arg* can be one of an integer, absent (treated identically to the
    integer ``0``), an object supporting the read-only buffer interface (most likely
    a plain Python string) or an object supporting the read-write buffer interface.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_fcntl.py b/Lib/test/test_fcntl.py
index feed870..08b59ec 100755
--- a/Lib/test/test_fcntl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_fcntl.py
@@ -5,12 +5,18 @@
 """
 import struct
 import fcntl
-import os, sys
+import os
+import struct
+import sys
 import unittest
 from test.test_support import verbose, TESTFN, unlink, run_unittest
 
 # TODO - Write tests for ioctl(), flock() and lockf().
 
+try:
+    import termios
+except ImportError:
+    termios = None
 
 def get_lockdata():
     if sys.platform.startswith('atheos'):
@@ -82,8 +88,29 @@
         self.f.close()
 
 
+class TestIoctl(unittest.TestCase):
+    if termios:
+        def test_ioctl_signed_unsigned_code_param(self):
+            if termios.TIOCSWINSZ < 0:
+                set_winsz_opcode_maybe_neg = termios.TIOCSWINSZ
+                set_winsz_opcode_pos = termios.TIOCSWINSZ & 0xffffffffL
+            else:
+                set_winsz_opcode_pos = termios.TIOCSWINSZ
+                set_winsz_opcode_maybe_neg, = struct.unpack("i",
+                        struct.pack("I", termios.TIOCSWINSZ))
+
+            # We're just testing that these calls do not raise exceptions.
+            saved_winsz = fcntl.ioctl(0, termios.TIOCGWINSZ, "\0"*8)
+            our_winsz = struct.pack("HHHH",80,25,0,0)
+            # test both with a positive and potentially negative ioctl code
+            new_winsz = fcntl.ioctl(0, set_winsz_opcode_pos, our_winsz)
+            new_winsz = fcntl.ioctl(0, set_winsz_opcode_maybe_neg, our_winsz)
+            fcntl.ioctl(0, set_winsz_opcode_maybe_neg, saved_winsz)
+
+
 def test_main():
     run_unittest(TestFcntl)
+    run_unittest(TestIoctl)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test_main()
diff --git a/Modules/fcntlmodule.c b/Modules/fcntlmodule.c
index 1e4a254..96a6cc8 100644
--- a/Modules/fcntlmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/fcntlmodule.c
@@ -97,11 +97,20 @@
 {
 #define IOCTL_BUFSZ 1024
 	int fd;
-	/* In PyArg_ParseTuple below, use the unsigned int 'I' format for
-	   the signed int 'code' variable, because Python turns 0x8000000
-	   into a large positive number (PyLong, or PyInt on 64-bit
-	   platforms,) whereas C expects it to be a negative int */
-	int code;
+	/* In PyArg_ParseTuple below, we use the unsigned non-checked 'I'
+	   format for the 'code' parameter because Python turns 0x8000000
+	   into either a large positive number (PyLong or PyInt on 64-bit
+	   platforms) or a negative number on others (32-bit PyInt)
+	   whereas the system expects it to be a 32bit bit field value
+	   regardless of it being passed as an int or unsigned long on
+	   various platforms.  See the termios.TIOCSWINSZ constant across
+	   platforms for an example of thise.
+
+	   If any of the 64bit platforms ever decide to use more than 32bits
+	   in their unsigned long ioctl codes this will break and need
+	   special casing based on the platform being built on.
+	 */
+	unsigned int code;
 	int arg;
 	int ret;
 	char *str;