diff --git a/numpy/__init__.py b/numpy/__init__.py
index 73e979a1841d..00c4a3d780e6 100644
--- a/numpy/__init__.py
+++ b/numpy/__init__.py
@@ -157,11 +157,8 @@
     # Make these accessible from numpy name-space
     # but not imported in from numpy import *
     # TODO[gh-6103]: Deprecate these
-    if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-        from builtins import bool, int, float, complex, object, str
-        unicode = str
-    else:
-        from __builtin__ import bool, int, float, complex, object, unicode, str
+    from builtins import bool, int, float, complex, object, str
+    unicode = str
 
     from .core import round, abs, max, min
     # now that numpy modules are imported, can initialize limits
diff --git a/numpy/core/defchararray.py b/numpy/core/defchararray.py
index bc101f84b8e4..942a698a9fc1 100644
--- a/numpy/core/defchararray.py
+++ b/numpy/core/defchararray.py
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ def str_len(a):
 
     See also
     --------
-    __builtin__.len
+    builtins.len
     """
     return _vec_string(a, integer, '__len__')
 
diff --git a/numpy/distutils/misc_util.py b/numpy/distutils/misc_util.py
index b7fd74c477dc..4be1df94e60c 100644
--- a/numpy/distutils/misc_util.py
+++ b/numpy/distutils/misc_util.py
@@ -164,7 +164,6 @@ def get_path_from_frame(frame, parent_path=None):
             # we're probably running setup.py as execfile("setup.py")
             # (likely we're building an egg)
             d = os.path.abspath('.')
-            # hmm, should we use sys.argv[0] like in __builtin__ case?
 
     if parent_path is not None:
         d = rel_path(d, parent_path)