diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/Connection.php b/lib/Doctrine/Connection.php
index 103d71f5b..0ad491458 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/Connection.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/Connection.php
@@ -480,6 +480,16 @@ abstract class Doctrine_Connection extends Doctrine_Configurable implements Coun
     public function setCharset($charset)
     {
     }
+    /**
+     * Set the date/time format for the current connection
+     *
+     * @param string    time format
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function setDateFormat($format = null)
+    {
+    }
     /**
      * fetchAll
      *
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/Connection/Oracle.php b/lib/Doctrine/Connection/Oracle.php
index 7532b2f8f..61fcfa7b2 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/Connection/Oracle.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/Connection/Oracle.php
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@ class Doctrine_Connection_Oracle extends Doctrine_Connection
         $this->options['result_prefetching'] = false;
         */
         parent::__construct($manager, $adapter);
+    }
+    /**
+     * Sets up the date/time format
+     *
+     */
+    public function setDateFormat($format = 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
+    {
+      $this->exec('ALTER SESSION NLS_DATE_FORMAT "'.$format.'";');
     }
     /**
      * Adds an driver-specific LIMIT clause to the query