diff --git a/fix_tests_38.patch b/fix_tests_38.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f724eec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fix_tests_38.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+--- a/test/test_writers/test_odt.py
++++ b/test/test_writers/test_odt.py
+@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class DocutilsOdtTestCase(DocutilsTestSu
+                     sys.stderr.write(s1)
+         return WhichElementTree
+ 
+-    def process_test(self, input_filename, expected_filename, 
++    def process_test(self, input_filename, expected_filename,
+             save_output_name=None, settings_overrides=None):
+         if not self.check_import():
+             return
+@@ -112,19 +112,22 @@ class DocutilsOdtTestCase(DocutilsTestSu
+             outfile.close()
+         content1 = self.extract_file(result, 'content.xml')
+         content2 = self.extract_file(expected, 'content.xml')
+-        msg = 'content.xml not equal: expected len: %d  actual len: %d' % (
+-            len(content2), len(content1), )
+-        self.assertEqual(content1, content2, msg)
++        # self.assertEqual(content1, content2, msg)
++        self.assertEqual(content1, content2)
+ 
+     def extract_file(self, payload, filename):
++        from xml.etree import ElementTree as etree
+         payloadfile = BytesIO()
+         payloadfile.write(payload)
+         payloadfile.seek(0)
+         zfile = zipfile.ZipFile(payloadfile, 'r')
+         content1 = zfile.read(filename)
+-        doc = minidom.parseString(content1)
+-        #content2 = doc.toprettyxml(indent='  ')
+-        content2 = doc.toxml()
++        if hasattr(etree, 'canonicalize'):
++            content2 = etree.canonicalize(content1, with_comments=True)
++        else:
++            #content2 = doc.toprettyxml(indent='  ')
++            doc = minidom.parseString(content1)
++            content2 = doc.toxml()
+         return content2
+ 
+     def assertEqual(self, first, second, msg=None):
diff --git a/python-docutils.changes b/python-docutils.changes
index b6be5e1..192d94b 100644
--- a/python-docutils.changes
+++ b/python-docutils.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Oct 11 14:11:49 CEST 2019 - Matej Cepl <mcepl@suse.com>
+
+- Add fix_tests_38.patch to overcome failing
+  test_writers.test_odt.DocutilsOdtTestCase with Python 3.8.
+  Also, failed as shp#docutils#161.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sat Sep 14 01:50:36 UTC 2019 - John Vandenberg <jayvdb@gmail.com>
 
diff --git a/python-docutils.spec b/python-docutils.spec
index 77bab34..6117844 100644
--- a/python-docutils.spec
+++ b/python-docutils.spec
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ Group:          Development/Languages/Python
 URL:            https://pypi.python.org/pypi/docutils/
 Source:         https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/source/d/docutils/docutils-%{version}.tar.gz
 Source99:       python-docutils-rpmlintrc
+# PATCH-FIX-UPSTREAM fix_tests_38.patch shp#docutils#161 mcepl@suse.com
+# Fixes failing tests in test_writers.test_odt.DocutilsOdtTestCase
+Patch0:         fix_tests_38.patch
 BuildRequires:  %{python_module setuptools}
 BuildRequires:  %{python_module xml}
 BuildRequires:  fdupes
@@ -63,6 +66,7 @@ easy-to-read, what-you-see-is-what-you-get plaintext markup syntax.
 
 %prep
 %setup -q -n docutils-%{version}
+%autopatch -p1
 # Remove useless ".py" ending from executables:
 for i in tools/rst*; do mv "$i" "${i/.py}"; done
 sed -i "s|'tools/\(rst.*\)\.py'|'tools/\1'|" setup.py