diff --git a/Doc/lib/libtest.tex b/Doc/lib/libtest.tex
index f30b49bcbf8..326c5f0e2ba 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libtest.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libtest.tex
@@ -285,6 +285,14 @@ originated from.
 
 The \module{test.test_support} module defines the following classes:
 
+\begin{classdesc}{TransientResource}{exc\optional{, **kwargs}}
+Create a context manager that raises \class{ResourceDenied} if the specified
+exception type is raised.  Any keyword arguments are treated as name/value
+pairs to be compared against any exception raised with the \code{with}
+statement.  Only if all pairs match is \class{ResourceDenied} raised.
+\versionadded{2.6}
+\end{classdesc}
+
 \begin{classdesc}{EnvironmentVarGuard}{}
 Class used to temporarily set or unset environment variables.  Instances can be
 used as a context manager.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
index 3c9c9f03c0e..8fb7e4c13e8 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def test_basic():
         print "didn't raise TypeError"
     socket.RAND_add("this is a random string", 75.0)
 
-    f = urllib.urlopen('https://sf.net')
+    with test_support.TransientResource(IOError, errno=errno.ETIMEDOUT):
+        f = urllib.urlopen('https://sf.net')
     buf = f.read()
     f.close()
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_support.py b/Lib/test/test_support.py
index 82fd5f4131b..2e47aedf214 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_support.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_support.py
@@ -312,6 +312,31 @@ class EnvironmentVarGuard(object):
         for unset in self._unset:
             del self._environ[unset]
 
+class TransientResource(object):
+
+    """Raise ResourceDenied if an exception is raised while the context manager
+    is in effect that matches the specified exception and attributes."""
+
+    def __init__(self, exc, **kwargs):
+        self.exc = exc
+        self.attrs = kwargs
+
+    def __enter__(self):
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, type_=None, value=None, traceback=None):
+        """If type_ is a subclass of self.exc and value has attributes matching
+        self.attrs, raise ResourceDenied.  Otherwise let the exception
+        propagate (if any)."""
+        if type_ is not None and issubclass(self.exc, type_):
+            for attr, attr_value in self.attrs.iteritems():
+                if not hasattr(value, attr):
+                    break
+                if getattr(value, attr) != attr_value:
+                    break
+            else:
+                raise ResourceDenied("an optional resource is not available")
+
 
 #=======================================================================
 # Decorator for running a function in a different locale, correctly resetting
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 0ceb078ee17..b80dd323f81 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -516,6 +516,10 @@ Extension Modules
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Added test.test_support.TransientResource which is a context manager to
+  surround calls to resources that are not guaranteed to work even if
+  test.test_support.requires says that the resource should exist.
+
 - Added a test for slicing of an exception.
 
 - Added test.test_support.EnvironmentVarGuard.  It's a class that provides a