diff --git a/synapse/python_dependencies.py b/synapse/python_dependencies.py
deleted file mode 100644
index a89d61860..000000000
--- a/synapse/python_dependencies.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,122 +0,0 @@
-import logging
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-REQUIREMENTS = {
-    "syutil==0.0.2": ["syutil"],
-    "matrix_angular_sdk==0.6.0": ["syweb>=0.6.0"],
-    "Twisted==14.0.2": ["twisted==14.0.2"],
-    "service_identity>=1.0.0": ["service_identity>=1.0.0"],
-    "pyopenssl>=0.14": ["OpenSSL>=0.14"],
-    "pyyaml": ["yaml"],
-    "pyasn1": ["pyasn1"],
-    "pynacl": ["nacl"],
-    "daemonize": ["daemonize"],
-    "py-bcrypt": ["bcrypt"],
-    "frozendict>=0.4": ["frozendict"],
-    "pillow": ["PIL"],
-    "pydenticon": ["pydenticon"],
-}
-
-def github_link(project, version, egg):
-    return "https://github.com/%s/tarball/%s/#egg=%s" % (project, version, egg)
-
-DEPENDENCY_LINKS=[
-    github_link(
-        project="matrix-org/syutil",
-        version="v0.0.2",
-        egg="syutil-0.0.2",
-    ),
-    github_link(
-        project="matrix-org/matrix-angular-sdk",
-        version="v0.6.0",
-        egg="matrix_angular_sdk-0.6.0",
-    ),
-    github_link(
-        project="pyca/pynacl",
-        version="d4d3175589b892f6ea7c22f466e0e223853516fa",
-        egg="pynacl-0.3.0",
-    )
-]
-
-
-class MissingRequirementError(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-def check_requirements():
-    """Checks that all the modules needed by synapse have been correctly
-    installed and are at the correct version"""
-    for dependency, module_requirements in REQUIREMENTS.items():
-        for module_requirement in module_requirements:
-            if ">=" in module_requirement:
-                module_name, required_version = module_requirement.split(">=")
-                version_test = ">="
-            elif "==" in module_requirement:
-                module_name, required_version = module_requirement.split("==")
-                version_test = "=="
-            else:
-                module_name = module_requirement
-                version_test = None
-
-            try:
-                module = __import__(module_name)
-            except ImportError:
-                logging.exception(
-                    "Can't import %r which is part of %r",
-                    module_name, dependency
-                )
-                raise MissingRequirementError(
-                    "Can't import %r which is part of %r"
-                    % (module_name, dependency)
-                )
-            version = getattr(module, "__version__", None)
-            file_path = getattr(module, "__file__", None)
-            logger.info(
-                "Using %r version %r from %r to satisfy %r",
-                module_name, version, file_path, dependency
-            )
-
-            if version_test == ">=":
-                if version is None:
-                    raise MissingRequirementError(
-                        "Version of %r isn't set as __version__ of module %r"
-                        % (dependency, module_name)
-                    )
-                if LooseVersion(version) < LooseVersion(required_version):
-                    raise MissingRequirementError(
-                        "Version of %r in %r is too old. %r < %r"
-                        % (dependency, file_path, version, required_version)
-                    )
-            elif version_test == "==":
-                if version is None:
-                    raise MissingRequirementError(
-                        "Version of %r isn't set as __version__ of module %r"
-                        % (dependency, module_name)
-                    )
-                if LooseVersion(version) != LooseVersion(required_version):
-                    raise MissingRequirementError(
-                        "Unexpected version of %r in %r. %r != %r"
-                        % (dependency, file_path, version, required_version)
-                    )
-
-def list_requirements():
-    result = []
-    linked = []
-    for link in DEPENDENCY_LINKS:
-        egg = link.split("#egg=")[1]
-        linked.append(egg.split('-')[0])
-        result.append(link)
-    for requirement in REQUIREMENTS:
-        is_linked = False
-        for link in linked:
-            if requirement.replace('-','_').startswith(link):
-                is_linked = True
-        if not is_linked:
-            result.append(requirement)
-    return result
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    import sys
-    sys.stdout.writelines(req + "\n" for req in list_requirements())