diff --git a/Lib/getopt.py b/Lib/getopt.py
index 93777b4937f..13ef4d623ec 100644
--- a/Lib/getopt.py
+++ b/Lib/getopt.py
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def gnu_getopt(args, shortopts, longopts = []):
 
         if args[0][:2] == '--':
             opts, args = do_longs(opts, args[0][2:], longopts, args[1:])
-        elif args[0][:1] == '-':
+        elif args[0][:1] == '-' and args[0] != '-':
             opts, args = do_shorts(opts, args[0][1:], shortopts, args[1:])
         else:
             if all_options_first:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_getopt.py b/Lib/test/test_getopt.py
index de3325d7ee9..11ae163c6d0 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_getopt.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_getopt.py
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ class GetoptTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(opts, [('-a', ''), ('-b', '1'),
                                 ('--alpha', ''), ('--beta', '2')])
 
+        # recognize "-" as an argument
+        opts, args = getopt.gnu_getopt(['-a', '-', '-b', '-'], 'ab:', [])
+        self.assertEqual(args, ['-'])
+        self.assertEqual(opts, [('-a', ''), ('-b', '-')])
+
         # Posix style via +
         opts, args = getopt.gnu_getopt(cmdline, '+ab:', ['alpha', 'beta='])
         self.assertEqual(opts, [('-a', '')])
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_parser.py b/Lib/test/test_parser.py
index 17d19886cde..2f1310b4a31 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_parser.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_parser.py
@@ -193,6 +193,16 @@ class RoundtripLegalSyntaxTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         self.check_suite("with open('x'): pass\n")
         self.check_suite("with open('x') as f: pass\n")
 
+    def test_try_stmt(self):
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nexcept: pass\n")
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nfinally: pass\n")
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nexcept A: pass\nfinally: pass\n")
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nexcept A: pass\nexcept: pass\n"
+                         "finally: pass\n")
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nexcept: pass\nelse: pass\n")
+        self.check_suite("try: pass\nexcept: pass\nelse: pass\n"
+                         "finally: pass\n")
+
     def test_position(self):
         # An absolutely minimal test of position information.  Better
         # tests would be a big project.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 81b0900b633..19581d68d57 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -31,6 +31,15 @@ Library
 - Issue #4483: _dbm module now builds on systems with gdbm & gdbm_compat
   libs.
 
+- Issue #4529: fix the parser module's validation of try-except-finally
+  statements.
+
+- Issue #4458: getopt.gnu_getopt() now recognizes a single "-" as an argument,
+  not a malformed option.
+
+- Added the subprocess.check_output() convenience function to get output
+  from a subprocess on success or raise an exception on error.
+
 - Issue #4542: On Windows, binascii.crc32 still accepted str as binary input;
   the corresponding tests now pass.
 
diff --git a/Modules/parsermodule.c b/Modules/parsermodule.c
index 51660aaad05..6778fb41d4e 100644
--- a/Modules/parsermodule.c
+++ b/Modules/parsermodule.c
@@ -1862,6 +1862,7 @@ validate_for(node *tree)
 
 /*  try_stmt:
  *      'try' ':' suite (except_clause ':' suite)+ ['else' ':' suite]
+                                                   ['finally' ':' suite]
  *    | 'try' ':' suite 'finally' ':' suite
  *
  */
@@ -1887,35 +1888,34 @@ validate_try(node *tree)
         PyErr_Format(parser_error,
                      "Illegal number of children for try/%s node.", name);
     }
-    /*  Skip past except_clause sections:  */
+    /* Handle try/finally statement */
+    if (res && (TYPE(CHILD(tree, pos)) == NAME) &&
+        (strcmp(STR(CHILD(tree, pos)), "finally") == 0)) {
+        res = (validate_numnodes(tree, 6, "try/finally")
+               && validate_colon(CHILD(tree, 4))
+               && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, 5)));
+        return (res);
+    }
+    /* try/except statement: skip past except_clause sections */
     while (res && (TYPE(CHILD(tree, pos)) == except_clause)) {
         res = (validate_except_clause(CHILD(tree, pos))
                && validate_colon(CHILD(tree, pos + 1))
                && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, pos + 2)));
         pos += 3;
     }
-    if (res && (pos < nch)) {
-        res = validate_ntype(CHILD(tree, pos), NAME);
-        if (res && (strcmp(STR(CHILD(tree, pos)), "finally") == 0))
-            res = (validate_numnodes(tree, 6, "try/finally")
-                   && validate_colon(CHILD(tree, 4))
-                   && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, 5)));
-        else if (res) {
-            if (nch == (pos + 3)) {
-                res = ((strcmp(STR(CHILD(tree, pos)), "except") == 0)
-                       || (strcmp(STR(CHILD(tree, pos)), "else") == 0));
-                if (!res)
-                    err_string("illegal trailing triple in try statement");
-            }
-            else if (nch == (pos + 6)) {
-                res = (validate_name(CHILD(tree, pos), "except")
-                       && validate_colon(CHILD(tree, pos + 1))
-                       && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, pos + 2))
-                       && validate_name(CHILD(tree, pos + 3), "else"));
-            }
-            else
-                res = validate_numnodes(tree, pos + 3, "try/except");
-        }
+    /* skip else clause */
+    if (res && (TYPE(CHILD(tree, pos)) == NAME) &&
+        (strcmp(STR(CHILD(tree, pos)), "else") == 0)) {
+        res = (validate_colon(CHILD(tree, pos + 1))
+               && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, pos + 2)));
+        pos += 3;
+    }
+    if (res && pos < nch) {
+        /* last clause must be a finally */
+        res = (validate_name(CHILD(tree, pos), "finally")
+               && validate_numnodes(tree, pos + 3, "try/except/finally")
+               && validate_colon(CHILD(tree, pos + 1))
+               && validate_suite(CHILD(tree, pos + 2)));
     }
     return (res);
 }
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index bf064583411..5acc141857e 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1770,7 +1770,7 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT($SHLIBS)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(dl, dlopen)	# Dynamic linking for SunOS/Solaris and SYSV
 AC_CHECK_LIB(dld, shl_load)	# Dynamic linking for HP-UX
 
-# only check for sem_ini if thread support is requested
+# only check for sem_init if thread support is requested
 if test "$with_threads" = "yes" -o -z "$with_threads"; then
     AC_SEARCH_LIBS(sem_init, pthread rt posix4) # 'Real Time' functions on Solaris
 						# posix4 on Solaris 2.6