Index: Python/getargs.c
===================================================================
--- Python/getargs.c	(revision 58252)
+++ Python/getargs.c	(working copy)
@@ -1238,33 +1238,19 @@
 		break;
 	}
 		
-	case 't': { /* 8-bit character buffer, read-only access */
-		char **p = va_arg(*p_va, char **);
-		PyBufferProcs *pb = arg->ob_type->tp_as_buffer;
-		int count;
-                Py_buffer view;
+	case 't': { /* 8-bit buffer, read-only access */
+		void **p = (void **)va_arg(*p_va, char **);
+		char* buf;
+		Py_ssize_t count;
 		
 		if (*format++ != '#')
 			return converterr(
 				"invalid use of 't' format character", 
 				arg, msgbuf, bufsize);
-		if (pb == NULL || pb->bf_getbuffer == NULL)
-			return converterr(
-				"string or read-only character buffer",
-				arg, msgbuf, bufsize);
 
-		if ((*pb->bf_getbuffer)(arg, &view, PyBUF_CHARACTER) != 0) 
-			return converterr("string or single-segment read-only buffer",
-                                          arg, msgbuf, bufsize);
-
-                count = view.len;
-                *p = view.buf;
-                /* XXX : shouldn't really release buffer, but it should be O.K.
-                */
-                if (pb->bf_releasebuffer != NULL) 
-                        (*pb->bf_releasebuffer)(arg, &view);
+		count = convertbuffer(arg, p, &buf);
 		if (count < 0)
-			return converterr("(unspecified)", arg, msgbuf, bufsize);
+			return converterr(buf, arg, msgbuf, bufsize);
 		{
 			FETCH_SIZE;
 			STORE_SIZE(count);
Index: Lib/test/test_getargs2.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_getargs2.py	(revision 58252)
+++ Lib/test/test_getargs2.py	(working copy)
@@ -250,8 +250,24 @@
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, getargs_tuple, 1, seq())
 
 
+class Strings_TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_t(self):
+        from _testcapi import getargs_t
+        from array import array
+
+        self.assertEquals(getargs_t(b'abcd\xfe'), b'abcd\xfe')
+        self.assertEquals(getargs_t(array('B', b'abcd\xfe')), b'abcd\xfe')
+        if sys.byteorder == 'big':
+            self.assertEquals(getargs_t(array('h', [65,66,67])), b'\0A\0B\0C')
+            self.assertEquals(getargs_t('abcd\u1234'), b'\0a\0b\0c\0d\x12\x34')
+        else:
+            self.assertEquals(getargs_t(array('h', [65,66,67])), b'A\0B\0C\0')
+            self.assertEquals(getargs_t('abcd\u1234'), b'a\0b\0c\0d\0\x34\x12')
+
+
 def test_main():
-    tests = [Signed_TestCase, Unsigned_TestCase, Tuple_TestCase]
+    tests = [Signed_TestCase, Unsigned_TestCase, Tuple_TestCase, 
+             Strings_TestCase]
     try:
         from _testcapi import getargs_L, getargs_K
     except ImportError:
Index: Modules/arraymodule.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/arraymodule.c	(revision 58252)
+++ Modules/arraymodule.c	(working copy)
@@ -1788,7 +1788,7 @@
 {
         if ((flags & PyBUF_CHARACTER)) {
                 PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
-                                "Cannot be a character buffer");
+                                "Cannot view array as a character buffer");
                 return -1;
         }
         if ((flags & PyBUF_LOCKDATA)) {
Index: Modules/_testcapimodule.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/_testcapimodule.c	(revision 58252)
+++ Modules/_testcapimodule.c	(working copy)
@@ -456,7 +456,19 @@
 	return Py_None;
 }
 
+// Parses the arguments with the t# format code and returns the result
+// as a bytes.
+static PyObject *
+getargs_t(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	char *bytes;
+	int len;
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "t#", &bytes, &len))
+		return NULL;
+	return PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(bytes, len);
+}
 
+
 /* Test the u and u# codes for PyArg_ParseTuple. May leak memory in case
    of an error.
 */
@@ -907,6 +919,7 @@
 #ifdef HAVE_LONG_LONG
 	{"getargs_L",		getargs_L,			 METH_VARARGS},
 	{"getargs_K",		getargs_K,			 METH_VARARGS},
+	{"getargs_t",		getargs_t,			 METH_VARARGS},
 	{"test_longlong_api",	test_longlong_api,		 METH_NOARGS},
 	{"test_L_code",		(PyCFunction)test_L_code,	 METH_NOARGS},
 	{"codec_incrementalencoder",