diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/package/pip.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/package/pip.rb
index 5f6806e6f..b6b608928 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/package/pip.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/package/pip.rb
@@ -1,108 +1,111 @@
 # Puppet package provider for Python's `pip` package management frontend.
 # <http://pip.openplans.org/>
 
 require 'puppet/provider/package'
 require 'xmlrpc/client'
 
 Puppet::Type.type(:package).provide :pip,
   :parent => ::Puppet::Provider::Package do
 
   desc "Python packages via `pip`."
 
   has_feature :installable, :uninstallable, :upgradeable, :versionable
 
   # Parse lines of output from `pip freeze`, which are structured as
   # _package_==_version_.
   def self.parse(line)
     if line.chomp =~ /^([^=]+)==([^=]+)$/
       {:ensure => $2, :name => $1, :provider => name}
     else
       nil
     end
   end
 
   # Return an array of structured information about every installed package
   # that's managed by `pip` or an empty array if `pip` is not available.
   def self.instances
     packages = []
     pip_cmd = which('pip') or return []
     execpipe "#{pip_cmd} freeze" do |process|
       process.collect do |line|
         next unless options = parse(line)
         packages << new(options)
       end
     end
     packages
   end
 
   # Return structured information about a particular package or `nil` if
   # it is not installed or `pip` itself is not available.
   def query
     self.class.instances.each do |provider_pip|
       return provider_pip.properties if @resource[:name] == provider_pip.name
     end
     return nil
   end
 
   # Ask the PyPI API for the latest version number.  There is no local
   # cache of PyPI's package list so this operation will always have to
   # ask the web service.
   def latest
     client = XMLRPC::Client.new2("http://pypi.python.org/pypi")
     client.http_header_extra = {"Content-Type" => "text/xml"}
+    client.timeout = 10
     result = client.call("package_releases", @resource[:name])
     result.first
+  rescue Timeout::Error => detail
+    raise Puppet::Error, "Timeout while contacting pypi.python.org: #{detail}";
   end
 
   # Install a package.  The ensure parameter may specify installed,
   # latest, a version number, or, in conjunction with the source
   # parameter, an SCM revision.  In that case, the source parameter
   # gives the fully-qualified URL to the repository.
   def install
     args = %w{install -q}
     if @resource[:source]
       args << "-e"
       if String === @resource[:ensure]
         args << "#{@resource[:source]}@#{@resource[:ensure]}#egg=#{
           @resource[:name]}"
       else
         args << "#{@resource[:source]}#egg=#{@resource[:name]}"
       end
     else
       case @resource[:ensure]
       when String
         args << "#{@resource[:name]}==#{@resource[:ensure]}"
       when :latest
         args << "--upgrade" << @resource[:name]
       else
         args << @resource[:name]
       end
     end
     lazy_pip *args
   end
 
   # Uninstall a package.  Uninstall won't work reliably on Debian/Ubuntu
   # unless this issue gets fixed.
   # <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=562544>
   def uninstall
     lazy_pip "uninstall", "-y", "-q", @resource[:name]
   end
 
   def update
     install
   end
 
   # Execute a `pip` command.  If Puppet doesn't yet know how to do so,
   # try to teach it and if even that fails, raise the error.
   private
   def lazy_pip(*args)
     pip *args
   rescue NoMethodError => e
     if pathname = which('pip')
       self.class.commands :pip => pathname
       pip *args
     else
       raise e, 'Could not locate the pip command.'
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/provider/package/pip_spec.rb b/spec/unit/provider/package/pip_spec.rb
index 7849ec49c..2de0eb4fc 100755
--- a/spec/unit/provider/package/pip_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/provider/package/pip_spec.rb
@@ -1,187 +1,193 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env rspec
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 provider_class = Puppet::Type.type(:package).provider(:pip)
 
 describe provider_class do
 
   before do
     @resource = Puppet::Resource.new(:package, "fake_package")
     @provider = provider_class.new(@resource)
-    client = stub_everything('client')
-    client.stubs(:call).with('package_releases', 'real_package').returns(["1.3", "1.2.5", "1.2.4"])
-    client.stubs(:call).with('package_releases', 'fake_package').returns([])
-    XMLRPC::Client.stubs(:new2).returns(client)
+    @client = stub_everything('client')
+    @client.stubs(:call).with('package_releases', 'real_package').returns(["1.3", "1.2.5", "1.2.4"])
+    @client.stubs(:call).with('package_releases', 'fake_package').returns([])
+    XMLRPC::Client.stubs(:new2).returns(@client)
   end
 
   describe "parse" do
 
     it "should return a hash on valid input" do
       provider_class.parse("real_package==1.2.5").should == {
         :ensure   => "1.2.5",
         :name     => "real_package",
         :provider => :pip,
       }
     end
 
     it "should return nil on invalid input" do
       provider_class.parse("foo").should == nil
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "instances" do
 
     it "should return an array when pip is present" do
       provider_class.expects(:which).with('pip').returns("/fake/bin/pip")
       p = stub("process")
       p.expects(:collect).yields("real_package==1.2.5")
       provider_class.expects(:execpipe).with("/fake/bin/pip freeze").yields(p)
       provider_class.instances
     end
 
     it "should return an empty array when pip is missing" do
       provider_class.expects(:which).with('pip').returns nil
       provider_class.instances.should == []
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "query" do
 
     before do
       @resource[:name] = "real_package"
     end
 
     it "should return a hash when pip and the package are present" do
       provider_class.expects(:instances).returns [provider_class.new({
         :ensure   => "1.2.5",
         :name     => "real_package",
         :provider => :pip,
       })]
 
       @provider.query.should == {
         :ensure   => "1.2.5",
         :name     => "real_package",
         :provider => :pip,
       }
     end
 
     it "should return nil when the package is missing" do
       provider_class.expects(:instances).returns []
       @provider.query.should == nil
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "latest" do
 
     it "should find a version number for real_package" do
       @resource[:name] = "real_package"
       @provider.latest.should_not == nil
     end
 
     it "should not find a version number for fake_package" do
       @resource[:name] = "fake_package"
       @provider.latest.should == nil
     end
 
+    it "should handle a timeout gracefully" do
+      @resource[:name] = "fake_package"
+      @client.stubs(:call).raises(Timeout::Error)
+      lambda { @provider.latest }.should raise_error(Puppet::Error)
+    end
+
   end
 
   describe "install" do
 
     before do
       @resource[:name] = "fake_package"
       @url = "git+https://example.com/fake_package.git"
     end
 
     it "should install" do
       @resource[:ensure] = :installed
       @resource[:source] = nil
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).
         with("install", '-q', "fake_package")
       @provider.install
     end
 
     it "should install from SCM" do
       @resource[:ensure] = :installed
       @resource[:source] = @url
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).
         with("install", '-q', '-e', "#{@url}#egg=fake_package")
       @provider.install
     end
 
     it "should install a particular SCM revision" do
       @resource[:ensure] = "0123456"
       @resource[:source] = @url
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).
         with("install", "-q", "-e", "#{@url}@0123456#egg=fake_package")
       @provider.install
     end
 
     it "should install a particular version" do
       @resource[:ensure] = "0.0.0"
       @resource[:source] = nil
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).with("install", "-q", "fake_package==0.0.0")
       @provider.install
     end
 
     it "should upgrade" do
       @resource[:ensure] = :latest
       @resource[:source] = nil
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).
         with("install", "-q", "--upgrade", "fake_package")
       @provider.install
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "uninstall" do
 
     it "should uninstall" do
       @resource[:name] = "fake_package"
       @provider.expects(:lazy_pip).
         with('uninstall', '-y', '-q', 'fake_package')
       @provider.uninstall
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "update" do
 
     it "should just call install" do
       @provider.expects(:install).returns(nil)
       @provider.update
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "lazy_pip" do
 
     it "should succeed if pip is present" do
       @provider.stubs(:pip).returns(nil)
       @provider.method(:lazy_pip).call "freeze"
     end
 
     it "should retry if pip has not yet been found" do
       @provider.expects(:pip).twice.with('freeze').raises(NoMethodError).then.returns(nil)
       @provider.expects(:which).with('pip').returns("/fake/bin/pip")
       @provider.method(:lazy_pip).call "freeze"
     end
 
     it "should fail if pip is missing" do
       @provider.expects(:pip).with('freeze').raises(NoMethodError)
       @provider.expects(:which).with('pip').returns(nil)
       expect { @provider.method(:lazy_pip).call("freeze") }.to raise_error(NoMethodError)
     end
 
     it "should output a useful error message if pip is missing" do
       @provider.expects(:pip).with('freeze').raises(NoMethodError)
       @provider.expects(:which).with('pip').returns(nil)
       expect { @provider.method(:lazy_pip).call("freeze") }.
         to raise_error(NoMethodError, 'Could not locate the pip command.')
     end
 
   end
 
 end