diff --git a/Lib/decimal.py b/Lib/decimal.py
index 17d67d5..cca0a44 100644
--- a/Lib/decimal.py
+++ b/Lib/decimal.py
@@ -612,7 +612,8 @@
             except ValueError:
                 self._is_special = True
                 self._sign, self._int, self._exp = \
-                                        context._raise_error(ConversionSyntax)
+                              context._raise_error(ConversionSyntax,
+                                  "Invalid literal for Decimal: %r" % value)
             return self
 
         raise TypeError("Cannot convert %r to Decimal" % value)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py b/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
index ed1d6dc..90f6ae7 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@
 import unittest
 import pickle
 
-from test.test_support import (TESTFN, unlink, run_unittest,
-                                guard_warnings_filter)
+from test.test_support import TESTFN, unlink, run_unittest
 
 # XXX This is not really enough, each *operation* should be tested!
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_import.py b/Lib/test/test_import.py
index 884d052..3203904 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_import.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_import.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from test.test_support import TESTFN, run_unittest, guard_warnings_filter
+from test.test_support import TESTFN, run_unittest, catch_warning
 
 import unittest
 import os
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
         self.assert_(y is test.test_support, y.__name__)
 
     def test_import_initless_directory_warning(self):
-        with guard_warnings_filter():
+        with catch_warning():
             # Just a random non-package directory we always expect to be
             # somewhere in sys.path...
             warnings.simplefilter('error', ImportWarning)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_macostools.py b/Lib/test/test_macostools.py
index 40b690a..eea3601 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_macostools.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_macostools.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
     def test_touched(self):
         # This really only tests that nothing unforeseen happens.
         import warnings
-        with test_support.guard_warnings_filter():
+        with test_support.catch_warning():
             warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', 'macostools.touched*',
                                     DeprecationWarning)
             macostools.touched(test_support.TESTFN)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pep352.py b/Lib/test/test_pep352.py
index dc47737..ddeee1a 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pep352.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pep352.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import unittest
 import __builtin__
 import warnings
-from test.test_support import run_unittest, guard_warnings_filter
+from test.test_support import run_unittest
 import os
 from platform import system as platform_system
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_random.py b/Lib/test/test_random.py
index 43273d8..1989786 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_random.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_random.py
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@
 
     def test_bigrand(self):
         # Verify warnings are raised when randrange is too large for random()
-        with test_support.guard_warnings_filter():
+        with test_support.catch_warning():
             warnings.filterwarnings("error", "Underlying random")
             self.assertRaises(UserWarning, self.gen.randrange, 2**60)
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_re.py b/Lib/test/test_re.py
index f14ff49..f166188 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_re.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_re.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import sys
 sys.path = ['.'] + sys.path
 
-from test.test_support import verbose, run_unittest, guard_warnings_filter
+from test.test_support import verbose, run_unittest, catch_warning
 import re
 from re import Scanner
 import sys, os, traceback
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@
         self.pickle_test(pickle)
         # old pickles expect the _compile() reconstructor in sre module
         import warnings
-        with guard_warnings_filter():
+        with catch_warning():
             warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", "The sre module is deprecated",
                                     DeprecationWarning)
             from sre import _compile
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_struct.py b/Lib/test/test_struct.py
index 69057fc..d3b7857 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_struct.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_struct.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
 def with_warning_restore(func):
     def _with_warning_restore(*args, **kw):
-        with test.test_support.guard_warnings_filter():
+        with test.test_support.catch_warning():
             # Grrr, we need this function to warn every time.  Without removing
             # the warningregistry, running test_tarfile then test_struct would fail
             # on 64-bit platforms.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_sundry.py b/Lib/test/test_sundry.py
index 6afc63b..ed2f14d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_sundry.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sundry.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 """Do a minimal test of all the modules that aren't otherwise tested."""
 
-from test.test_support import guard_warnings_filter
+from test.test_support import catch_warning
 import sys
 import warnings
 
-with guard_warnings_filter():
+with catch_warning():
     from test.test_support import verbose
 
     import BaseHTTPServer
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_support.py b/Lib/test/test_support.py
index 698507f..fa4c3ef 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_support.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_support.py
@@ -261,14 +261,6 @@
     fn, _ = urllib.urlretrieve(url, filename)
     return open(fn)
 
-@contextlib.contextmanager
-def guard_warnings_filter():
-    """Guard the warnings filter from being permanently changed."""
-    original_filters = warnings.filters[:]
-    try:
-        yield
-    finally:
-        warnings.filters = original_filters
 
 class WarningMessage(object):
     "Holds the result of the latest showwarning() call"
@@ -292,7 +284,7 @@
 
     Use like this:
 
-        with catch_warning as w:
+        with catch_warning() as w:
             warnings.warn("foo")
             assert str(w.message) == "foo"
     """
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_warnings.py b/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
index 5768a68..54d5dd2 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     def test_options(self):
         # Uses the private _setoption() function to test the parsing
         # of command-line warning arguments
-        with test_support.guard_warnings_filter():
+        with test_support.catch_warning():
             self.assertRaises(warnings._OptionError,
                               warnings._setoption, '1:2:3:4:5:6')
             self.assertRaises(warnings._OptionError,
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
index 75a439f..4a15de5 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import time
 import unittest
 import xmlrpclib
+import SimpleXMLRPCServer
+import threading
 from test import test_support
 
 alist = [{'astring': 'foo@bar.baz.spam',
@@ -239,10 +241,108 @@
         self.assertEqual(str(t2), d)
 
 
-def test_main():
-    test_support.run_unittest(XMLRPCTestCase, HelperTestCase,
-            DateTimeTestCase, BinaryTestCase, FaultTestCase)
+PORT = None
 
+def http_server(evt, numrequests):
+    class TestInstanceClass:
+        def div(self, x, y):
+            '''This is the div function'''
+            return x // y
+
+
+    serv = SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer(("localhost", 0),
+                    logRequests=False, bind_and_activate=False)
+
+    try:
+        serv.socket.settimeout(3)
+        serv.server_bind()
+        global PORT
+        PORT = serv.socket.getsockname()[1]
+        serv.server_activate()
+        serv.register_introspection_functions()
+        serv.register_multicall_functions()
+        serv.register_function(pow)
+        serv.register_function(lambda x,y: x+y, 'add')
+        serv.register_instance(TestInstanceClass())
+
+        # handle up to 'numrequests' requests
+        while numrequests > 0:
+            serv.handle_request()
+            numrequests -= 1
+
+    except socket.timeout:
+        pass
+    finally:
+        serv.socket.close()
+        PORT = None
+        evt.set()
+
+
+class HTTPTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.evt = threading.Event()
+        # start server thread to handle just one request
+        threading.Thread(target=http_server, args=(self.evt,2)).start()
+
+        # wait for port to be assigned to server
+        n = 1000
+        while n > 0 and PORT is None:
+            time.sleep(0.001)
+            n -= 1
+
+        time.sleep(0.5)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        # wait on the server thread to terminate
+        self.evt.wait()
+
+    def test_simple1(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:%d' % PORT)
+        self.assertEqual(p.pow(6,8), 6**8)
+
+    def test_introspection1(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:%d' % PORT)
+        meth = p.system.listMethods()
+        expected_methods = set(['pow', 'div', 'add', 'system.listMethods',
+            'system.methodHelp', 'system.methodSignature', 'system.multicall'])
+        self.assertEqual(set(meth), expected_methods)
+
+    def test_introspection2(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:%d' % PORT)
+        divhelp = p.system.methodHelp('div')
+        self.assertEqual(divhelp, 'This is the div function')
+
+    def test_introspection3(self):
+        # the SimpleXMLRPCServer doesn't support signatures, but
+        # at least check that we can try
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:%d' % PORT)
+        divsig = p.system.methodSignature('div')
+        self.assertEqual(divsig, 'signatures not supported')
+
+    def test_multicall(self):
+        p = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:%d' % PORT)
+        multicall = xmlrpclib.MultiCall(p)
+        multicall.add(2,3)
+        multicall.pow(6,8)
+        multicall.div(127,42)
+        add_result, pow_result, div_result = multicall()
+        self.assertEqual(add_result, 2+3)
+        self.assertEqual(pow_result, 6**8)
+        self.assertEqual(div_result, 127//42)
+
+
+def test_main():
+    xmlrpc_tests = [XMLRPCTestCase, HelperTestCase, DateTimeTestCase,
+         BinaryTestCase, FaultTestCase]
+
+    # The test cases against a SimpleXMLRPCServer raise a socket error
+    # 10035 (WSAEWOULDBLOCK) in the server thread handle_request call when
+    # run on Windows. This only happens on the first test to run, but it
+    # fails every time and so these tests are skipped on win32 platforms.
+    if sys.platform != 'win32':
+        xmlrpc_tests.append(HTTPTestCase)
+
+    test_support.run_unittest(*xmlrpc_tests)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()