diff --git a/test/bug.before.t b/test/bug.before.t
index 23a90eb7e..5d8794798 100755
--- a/test/bug.before.t
+++ b/test/bug.before.t
@@ -1,93 +1,102 @@
-#! /usr/bin/env perl
-################################################################################
-##
-## Copyright 2006 - 2015, Paul Beckingham, Federico Hernandez.
-##
-## Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
-## of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
-## in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
-## to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
-## copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
-## furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
-##
-## The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
-## in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-##
-## THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
-## OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
-## FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
-## THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
-## LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
-## OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
-## SOFTWARE.
-##
-## http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
-##
-################################################################################
+#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+###############################################################################
+#
+# Copyright 2006 - 2015, Paul Beckingham, Federico Hernandez.
+#
+# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+#
+# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+# in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+#
+# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+# OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
+# THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+# SOFTWARE.
+#
+# http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
+#
+###############################################################################
 
-use strict;
-use warnings;
-use Time::Local;
-use Test::More tests => 14;
+import sys
+import os
+import unittest
+# Ensure python finds the local simpletap module
+sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 
-# Ensure environment has no influence.
-delete $ENV{'TASKDATA'};
-delete $ENV{'TASKRC'};
+from basetest import Task, TestCase
 
-use File::Basename;
-my $ut = basename ($0);
-my $rc = $ut . '.rc';
 
-# Create the rc file.
-if (open my $fh, '>', $rc)
-{
-  print $fh "data.location=.\n",
-            "confirmation=no\n",
-            "dateformat=m/d/Y\n",
-            "dateformat.info=m/d/Y\n";
-  close $fh;
-}
+class TestBefore(TestCase):
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        """Executed once before any test in the class"""
+        cls.t = Task()
+        cls.t(('add', 'foo', 'entry:2008-12-22', 'start:2008-12-22'))
+        cls.t(('add', 'bar', 'entry:2009-04-17', 'start:2009-04-17'))
 
-# Create some example data directly.
-if (open my $fh, '>', 'pending.data')
-{
-  my $timeA = timegm (00,00,12,22,11,2008);
-  my $timeB = timegm (00,00,12,17,03,2009);
-  print $fh <<EOF;
-[description:"foo" entry:"$timeA" start:"$timeA" status:"pending" uuid:"27097693-91c2-4cbe-ba89-ddcc87e5582c"]
-[description:"bar" entry:"$timeB" start:"$timeB" status:"pending" uuid:"08f72d91-964c-424b-8fd5-556434648b6b"]
-EOF
+    def test_correctly_recorded_start(self):
+        """Verify start dates properly recorded"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("_get", "1.start"))
+        self.assertEqual(out, "2008-12-22T00:00:00\n", "1.start is 2008-12-22T00:00:00")
 
-  close $fh;
-}
+        code, out, err = self.t(("_get", "2.start"))
+        self.assertEqual(out, "2009-04-17T00:00:00\n", "2.start is 2009-04-17T00:00:00")
 
-# Verify data is readable and just as expected.
-my $output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc 1 info 2>&1};
-like ($output, qr/Start\s+12\/22\/2008/, "$ut: task 1 start date as expected");
+    def test_before_none(self):
+        """Verify start.before:2008-12-01 yields nothing"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.before:2008-12-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertNotIn("1", out)
+        self.assertNotIn("2", out)
 
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc 2 info 2>&1};
-like ($output, qr/Start\s+4\/17\/2009/, "$ut: task 2 start date as expected");
+    def test_after_none(self):
+        """Verify start.after:2009-05-01 yields nothing"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.after:2009-05-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertNotIn("1", out)
+        self.assertNotIn("2", out)
 
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.before:12/1/2008 2>/dev/null};
-unlike ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: no foo before 12/1/2008");
-unlike ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: no bar before 12/1/2008");
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.before:1/1/2009 2>/dev/null};
-like ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: foo before 1/1/2009");
-unlike ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: no bar before 1/1/2009");
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.before:5/1/2009 2>/dev/null};
-like ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: foo before 5/1/2009");
-like ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: bar before 5/1/2009");
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.after:12/1/2008 2>/dev/null};
-like ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: foo after 12/1/2008");
-like ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: bar after 12/1/2008");
+    def test_before_a(self):
+        """Verify start.before:2009-01-01 yields '1'"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.before:2009-01-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertIn("1", out)
+        self.assertNotIn("2", out)
+
+    def test_before_b(self):
+        """Verify start.before:2009-05-01 yields '1' and '2'"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.before:2009-05-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertIn("1", out)
+        self.assertIn("2", out)
+
+    def test_after_a(self):
+        """Verify start.after:2008-12-01 yields '1' and '2'"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.after:2008-12-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertIn("1", out)
+        self.assertIn("2", out)
+
+    def test_after_b(self):
+        """Verify start.after:2009-01-01 yields '2'"""
+        code, out, err = self.t(("start.after:2009-01-01", "_ids"))
+        self.assertNotIn("1", out)
+        self.assertIn("2", out)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    from simpletap import TAPTestRunner
+    unittest.main(testRunner=TAPTestRunner())
+
+# vim: ai sts=4 et sw=4
+
+x="""
 $output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.after:1/1/2009 2>/dev/null};
 unlike ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: no foo after 1/1/2009");
 like ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: bar after 1/1/2009");
-$output = qx{../src/task rc:$rc ls start.after:5/1/2009 2>/dev/null};
-unlike ($output, qr/foo/, "$ut: no foo after 5/1/2009");
-unlike ($output, qr/bar/, "$ut: no bar after 5/1/2009");
-
-# Cleanup.
-unlink qw(pending.data completed.data undo.data backlog.data), $rc;
-exit 0;
 
+"""