diff --git a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
index 7c07e26..22f6a56 100644
--- a/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py
@@ -1382,14 +1382,6 @@ class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):
         found = False; obj = None;  ospace = None;
         ismagic = False; isalias = False; parent = None
 
-        # We need to special-case 'print', which as of python2.6 registers as a
-        # function but should only be treated as one if print_function was
-        # loaded with a future import.  In this case, just bail.
-        if (oname == 'print' and not py3compat.PY3 and not \
-            (self.compile.compiler_flags & __future__.CO_FUTURE_PRINT_FUNCTION)):
-            return {'found':found, 'obj':obj, 'namespace':ospace,
-                    'ismagic':ismagic, 'isalias':isalias, 'parent':parent}
-
         # Look for the given name by splitting it in parts.  If the head is
         # found, then we look for all the remaining parts as members, and only
         # declare success if we can find them all.
diff --git a/IPython/core/ultratb.py b/IPython/core/ultratb.py
index f7d4c76..3ccbb81 100644
--- a/IPython/core/ultratb.py
+++ b/IPython/core/ultratb.py
@@ -1055,27 +1055,8 @@ class VerboseTB(TBTools):
             etype, evalue = str, sys.exc_info()[:2]
             etype_str, evalue_str = map(str, (etype, evalue))
         # ... and format it
-        exception = ['%s%s%s: %s' % (colors.excName, etype_str,
-                                     colorsnormal, py3compat.cast_unicode(evalue_str))]
-
-        if (not py3compat.PY3) and type(evalue) is types.InstanceType:
-            try:
-                names = [w for w in dir(evalue) if isinstance(w, str)]
-            except:
-                # Every now and then, an object with funny internals blows up
-                # when dir() is called on it.  We do the best we can to report
-                # the problem and continue
-                _m = '%sException reporting error (object with broken dir())%s:'
-                exception.append(_m % (colors.excName, colorsnormal))
-                etype_str, evalue_str = map(str, sys.exc_info()[:2])
-                exception.append('%s%s%s: %s' % (colors.excName, etype_str,
-                                                 colorsnormal, py3compat.cast_unicode(evalue_str)))
-                names = []
-            for name in names:
-                value = text_repr(getattr(evalue, name))
-                exception.append('\n%s%s = %s' % (indent, name, value))
-
-        return exception
+        return ['%s%s%s: %s' % (colors.excName, etype_str,
+                                colorsnormal, py3compat.cast_unicode(evalue_str))]
 
     def format_exception_as_a_whole(self, etype, evalue, etb, number_of_lines_of_context, tb_offset):
         """Formats the header, traceback and exception message for a single exception.
diff --git a/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py b/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
index 7f4ba39..6dc3ec7 100644
--- a/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
+++ b/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ import traceback
 import types
 import weakref
 from importlib import import_module
-
+from IPython.utils.py3compat import PY3
 try:
     # Reload is not defined by default in Python3.
     reload
@@ -124,7 +124,6 @@ except NameError:
     from imp import reload
 
 from IPython.utils import openpy
-from IPython.utils.py3compat import PY3
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Autoreload functionality
@@ -356,10 +355,7 @@ def superreload(module, reload=reload, old_objects={}):
         try:
             old_objects.setdefault(key, []).append(weakref.ref(obj))
         except TypeError:
-            # weakref doesn't work for all types;
-            # create strong references for 'important' cases
-            if not PY3 and isinstance(obj, types.ClassType):
-                old_objects.setdefault(key, []).append(StrongRef(obj))
+            pass
 
     # reload module
     try:
diff --git a/IPython/utils/_process_common.py b/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
index fa2144c..204092b 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
@@ -187,14 +187,6 @@ def arg_split(s, posix=False, strict=True):
     command-line args.
     """
 
-    # Unfortunately, python's shlex module is buggy with unicode input:
-    # http://bugs.python.org/issue1170
-    # At least encoding the input when it's unicode seems to help, but there
-    # may be more problems lurking.  Apparently this is fixed in python3.
-    is_unicode = False
-    if (not py3compat.PY3) and isinstance(s, unicode):
-        is_unicode = True
-        s = s.encode('utf-8')
     lex = shlex.shlex(s, posix=posix)
     lex.whitespace_split = True
     # Extract tokens, ensuring that things like leaving open quotes
@@ -216,8 +208,5 @@ def arg_split(s, posix=False, strict=True):
             # couldn't parse, get remaining blob as last token
             tokens.append(lex.token)
             break
-    
-    if is_unicode:
-        # Convert the tokens back to unicode.
-        tokens = [x.decode('utf-8') for x in tokens]
+
     return tokens