diff --git a/bin/spack b/bin/spack
index fe90edf7d3..a94faad09b 100755
--- a/bin/spack
+++ b/bin/spack
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ exit 1
 # Line above is a shell no-op, and ends a python multi-line comment.
 # The code above runs this file with our preferred python interpreter.
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import os.path
 import sys
diff --git a/lib/spack/external/ctest_log_parser.py b/lib/spack/external/ctest_log_parser.py
index 0bb31e01b1..cc616f7905 100644
--- a/lib/spack/external/ctest_log_parser.py
+++ b/lib/spack/external/ctest_log_parser.py
@@ -65,9 +65,6 @@
 up to date with CTest, just make sure the ``*_matches`` and
 ``*_exceptions`` lists are kept up to date with CTest's build handler.
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-from __future__ import division
-
 import re
 import math
 import multiprocessing
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/argparsewriter.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/argparsewriter.py
index 3a4f8b7489..d9aa4b471b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/argparsewriter.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/argparsewriter.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import errno
 import io
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/lang.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/lang.py
index 2f484cb874..98cb283ed4 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/lang.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/lang.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import division
-
 import collections.abc
 import contextlib
 import functools
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py
index dece1c5edf..88c8b7d1a4 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/link_tree.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 
 """LinkTree class for setting up trees of symbolic links."""
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import filecmp
 import os
 import shutil
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/__init__.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/__init__.py
index ba9a627587..05e81ef615 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/__init__.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
 import contextlib
 import io
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/colify.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/colify.py
index d22be2a2e1..eb493aec33 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/colify.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/colify.py
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
 """
 Routines for printing columnar output.  See ``colify()`` for more information.
 """
-from __future__ import division, unicode_literals
-
 import io
 import os
 import sys
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/color.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/color.py
index bfb6338798..0f508f0d06 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/color.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/color.py
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@
 
 To output an @, use '@@'.  To output a } inside braces, use '}}'.
 """
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
 import re
 import sys
 from contextlib import contextmanager
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/log.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/log.py
index f2aed3d5b9..c325a8bf7d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/log.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/log.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 
 """Utility classes for logging the output of blocks of code.
 """
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-
 import atexit
 import ctypes
 import errno
diff --git a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/pty.py b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/pty.py
index db959b3cff..6f6433d390 100644
--- a/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/pty.py
+++ b/lib/spack/llnl/util/tty/pty.py
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
 
 Note: The functionality in this module is unsupported on Windows
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import multiprocessing
 import os
 import re
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
index c8a8b3ee13..ed8c23e6c0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/__init__.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import os
 import re
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/arch.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/arch.py
index ef91c0de36..b1845cf19d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/arch.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/arch.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import collections
 
 import archspec.cpu
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/bootstrap.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/bootstrap.py
index 6a8422297e..be2e64dbce 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/bootstrap.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/bootstrap.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os.path
 import shutil
 import tempfile
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/checksum.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/checksum.py
index efb27a410c..c6b39132c8 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/checksum.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/checksum.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/commands.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/commands.py
index d26d67bc32..e48bb35f63 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/commands.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/commands.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import copy
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/common/env_utility.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/common/env_utility.py
index 095360ee04..a616b79d8f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/common/env_utility.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/common/env_utility.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import os
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/compiler.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/compiler.py
index 4bb73e628c..e16ab4d7f4 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/compiler.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/compiler.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/config.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/config.py
index e935858292..0d60970d3d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/config.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/config.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import collections
 import os
 import shutil
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
index 7d7444a9a0..7685320f4e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import re
 import urllib.parse
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/debug.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/debug.py
index 8c3cb93d17..b3224f0b1b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/debug.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/debug.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import platform
 import re
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deprecate.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deprecate.py
index 3f0994f564..faecd910e7 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deprecate.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/deprecate.py
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
 It is up to the user to ensure binary compatibility between the deprecated
 installation and its deprecator.
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import os
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/external.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/external.py
index 6c794a70f2..00e52b3b6e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/external.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/external.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import errno
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
index 4b4482fa5c..f7bd56db19 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/find.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import copy
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/info.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/info.py
index acca8d3a8a..67e81d93a7 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/info.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/info.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import textwrap
 from itertools import zip_longest
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
index 454fefcece..d39c98ad3f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/license.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import re
 from collections import defaultdict
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/list.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/list.py
index 4aa3dcf0b0..544bdda5ad 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/list.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/list.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import division, print_function
-
 import argparse
 import fnmatch
 import json
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
index 0afac01b0c..48c0fd5d29 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/location.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/maintainers.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/maintainers.py
index b076aef2ec..1fd61ef382 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/maintainers.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/maintainers.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 from collections import defaultdict
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mark.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mark.py
index 1d125cc409..ca4f48096d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mark.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/mark.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import sys
 
 from llnl.util import tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/pkg.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/pkg.py
index fad5d027b7..1f1dcdb181 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/pkg.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/pkg.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import itertools
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/python.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/python.py
index 3671d84904..2e7b490a63 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/python.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/python.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import code
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/repo.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/repo.py
index 5dd5e1677f..f9fda6c066 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/repo.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/repo.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/resource.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/resource.py
index 96c0035c87..66b0c14f67 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/resource.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/resource.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/solve.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/solve.py
index 3b58290f4f..b20afd74e1 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/solve.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/solve.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import re
 import sys
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/spec.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/spec.py
index ab24e85c6f..eef1888e7f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/spec.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/spec.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import sys
 
 import llnl.util.lang as lang
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test.py
index 518cd70bbb..732861acb2 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import fnmatch
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/tutorial.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/tutorial.py
index 8db7689558..a07824f922 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/tutorial.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/tutorial.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os.path
 import shutil
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
index 9b7a1742ff..4607d1c5d5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/uninstall.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import sys
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/unit_test.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/unit_test.py
index 3a875838d7..615f72bd8f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/unit_test.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/unit_test.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import division, print_function
-
 import argparse
 import collections
 import io
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/url.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/url.py
index 86ffde231d..ae221eb362 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/url.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/url.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import division, print_function
-
 import urllib.parse
 from collections import defaultdict
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/verify.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/verify.py
index 18a77ace92..026e025d36 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/verify.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/verify.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/versions.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/versions.py
index d9cb2a5f12..601e10b7e5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/versions.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/versions.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import sys
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/concretize.py b/lib/spack/spack/concretize.py
index 74eb6ea05d..a69404753b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/concretize.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/concretize.py
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 TODO: make this customizable and allow users to configure
       concretization  policies.
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import functools
 import platform
 import tempfile
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/error.py b/lib/spack/spack/error.py
index 84417bfd6f..0bf9b28be5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/error.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/error.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import inspect
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/main.py b/lib/spack/spack/main.py
index 2c64d5c8b3..00131114f6 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/main.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/main.py
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 In a normal Spack installation, this is invoked from the bin/spack script
 after the system path is set up.
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import inspect
 import io
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/modules/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/modules/__init__.py
index e9049a43bb..ccd800cdec 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/modules/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/modules/__init__.py
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 include Tcl non-hierarchical modules, Lua hierarchical modules, and others.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 from .common import disable_modules, ensure_modules_are_enabled_or_warn
 from .lmod import LmodModulefileWriter
 from .tcl import TclModulefileWriter
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
index 4ae2e471c5..d3e376f6bf 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class RepoLoader(_PrependFileLoader):
     #: Spack packages are expected to call `from spack.package import *`
     #: themselves, but we are allowing a deprecation period before breaking
     #: external repos that don't do this yet.
-    _package_prepend = "from __future__ import absolute_import;" "from spack.package import *"
+    _package_prepend = "from spack.package import *"
 
     def __init__(self, fullname, repo, package_name):
         self.repo = repo
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py b/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
index d8d058b7f0..2d77ba3cda 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import division, print_function
-
 import collections
 import collections.abc
 import copy
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/stage.py b/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
index 97e05f365e..f9f5d431b0 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import errno
 import getpass
 import glob
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/is_git_repo.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/is_git_repo.py
index a95e7ff91b..3e1e7c287e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/is_git_repo.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/is_git_repo.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import os
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/maintainers.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/maintainers.py
index 93b75da167..3a80877c63 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/maintainers.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/maintainers.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import re
 
 import pytest
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/pkg.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/pkg.py
index cd62991331..0820b1c080 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/pkg.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/pkg.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import re
 import shutil
 import sys
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/llnl/util/tty/log.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/llnl/util/tty/log.py
index b5767d1862..5a26cd86d5 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/llnl/util/tty/log.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/llnl/util/tty/log.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import contextlib
 import multiprocessing
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_yaml.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_yaml.py
index b6c72ce76e..594072ac4f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_yaml.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_yaml.py
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 The YAML and JSON formats preserve DAG information in the spec.
 
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import ast
 import collections
 import collections.abc
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/util/executable.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/executable.py
index c3d6cbbd17..b4e4b4888e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/util/executable.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/executable.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ def test_read_unicode(tmpdir, working_env):
         with open(script_name, "w") as f:
             f.write(
                 """#!{0}
-from __future__ import print_function
 print(u'\\xc3')
 """.format(
                     sys.executable
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/classes.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/classes.py
index 8a7fb7d594..05af353601 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/classes.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/classes.py
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-
-# Need this because of spack.util.string
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 import inspect
 
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/log_parse.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/log_parse.py
index df4f7ba68b..bf88a9635e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/log_parse.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/log_parse.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import io
 import sys
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/naming.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/naming.py
index c5b3353aca..c20aa780bc 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/naming.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/naming.py
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-# Need this because of spack.util.string
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 import io
 import itertools
 import re
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/parallel.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/parallel.py
index f2b216f74b..1d7f52648b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/parallel.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/parallel.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 # Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import contextlib
 import multiprocessing
 import os
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/__init__.py
index 73f7d106c6..c80554db18 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2014-2021, Simon Percivall and Spack Project Developers.
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Python-2.0
-# coding: utf-8
-from __future__ import absolute_import
-
 import io
 
 from .unparser import Unparser
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/unparser.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/unparser.py
index 7ea247b69a..75f61e53f9 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/unparser.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/unparse/unparser.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Python-2.0
 "Usage: unparse.py <path to source file>"
-from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals
-
 import ast
 import sys
 from contextlib import contextmanager
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
index 7e627b31dd..874a1daf8d 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/util/web.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import codecs
 import errno
 import multiprocessing.pool