diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index f9eb5d9433..ec8eca8e2d 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     ant9000@netwise.it
     David Ascher <http://ascher.ca/>
     Arthur <avandorp@gmail.com>
+    axiak@mit.edu
     Jiri Barton
     Ned Batchelder <http://www.nedbatchelder.com/>
     Shannon -jj Behrens <http://jjinux.blogspot.com/>
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/models.py b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
index 6fe781a041..9ebef0f524 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/models.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ def check_password(raw_password, enc_password):
     elif algo == 'sha1':
         import sha
         return hsh == sha.new(salt+raw_password).hexdigest()
+    elif algo == 'crypt':
+        try:
+            import crypt
+        except ImportError:
+            raise ValueError, "Crypt password algorithm not supported in this environment."
+        return hsh == crypt.crypt(raw_password, salt)
     raise ValueError, "Got unknown password algorithm type in password."
 
 class SiteProfileNotAvailable(Exception):
diff --git a/docs/authentication.txt b/docs/authentication.txt
index f0902fad39..14ca581877 100644
--- a/docs/authentication.txt
+++ b/docs/authentication.txt
@@ -204,9 +204,11 @@ The ``password`` attribute of a ``User`` object is a string in this format::
 
 That's hashtype, salt and hash, separated by the dollar-sign character.
 
-Hashtype is either ``sha1`` (default) or ``md5`` -- the algorithm used to
-perform a one-way hash of the password. Salt is a random string used to salt
-the raw password to create the hash.
+Hashtype is either ``sha1`` (default), ``md5`` or ``crypt`` -- the algorithm
+used to perform a one-way hash of the password. Salt is a random string used
+to salt the raw password to create the hash. Note that the ``crypt`` method is
+only supported on platforms that have the standard Python ``crypt`` module
+available.
 
 For example::