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(I already sent this to python-dev, but maybe it makes more sense to have these thoughts together with the patch)
After looking at the conversion of parse_time_t_args again, I think I lost track of what we're actually gaining with this procedure. If all we need is a type that can distinguish between a valid time_t value and a default value, why don't we simply use PyObject?
In other words, what's the advantage of the extra custom strict, plus the custom C converter function, plus the custom converter python class over:
static int
PyObject_to_time_t(PyObject *obj, time_t *when)
{
 if (obj == NULL || obj == Py_None) 
 *when = time(NULL);
 else if (_PyTime_ObjectToTime_t(obj, when) == -1)
 return 0;
 return 1;
}
/*[clinic input]
time.gmtime
 seconds: object=NULL
 /
[...]
static PyObject *
time_gmtime_impl(PyModuleDef *module, PyObject *seconds)
{
 PyObject *return_value = NULL;
 time_t when;
 if(!PyObj_to_time_t(seconds, &when))
 return NULL;
[...]
To me this version looks shorter and clearer.