diff --git a/cake/basics.php b/cake/basics.php
index dc4f4461d..907dd2717 100644
--- a/cake/basics.php
+++ b/cake/basics.php
@@ -31,6 +31,26 @@
 	define('MONTH', 2592000);
 	define('YEAR', 31536000);
 
+/**
+ * Patch old versions of PHP4.
+ */
+if (!defined('PHP_EOL')) {
+	switch (strtoupper(substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3))) {
+		case 'WIN':
+			define('PHP_EOL', "\r\n");
+			break;
+		default:
+			define('PHP_EOL', "\n");
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Patch PHP4 and PHP5.0
+ */
+if (!defined('DATE_RFC2822')) {
+	define('DATE_RFC2822', 'D, d M Y H:i:s O');
+}
+
 /**
  * Patch for PHP < 5.0
  */