diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -41,39 +41,6 @@
         return s
 
 
-# Attempt to guide users to a modern pip - this means that 2.6 users
-# should have a chance of getting a 4.2 release, and when we ratchet
-# the version requirement forward again hopefully everyone will get
-# something that works for them.
-if sys.version_info < (2, 7, 4, 'final'):
-    pip_message = (
-        'This may be due to an out of date pip. '
-        'Make sure you have pip >= 9.0.1.'
-    )
-    try:
-        import pip
-
-        pip_version = tuple([int(x) for x in pip.__version__.split('.')[:3]])
-        if pip_version < (9, 0, 1):
-            pip_message = (
-                'Your pip version is out of date, please install '
-                'pip >= 9.0.1. pip {} detected.'.format(pip.__version__)
-            )
-        else:
-            # pip is new enough - it must be something else
-            pip_message = ''
-    except Exception:
-        pass
-    error = """
-Mercurial does not support Python older than 2.7.4.
-Python {py} detected.
-{pip}
-""".format(
-        py=sys.version_info, pip=pip_message
-    )
-    printf(error, file=sys.stderr)
-    sys.exit(1)
-
 import ssl
 
 try: