diff --git a/Lib/sre.py b/Lib/sre.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8d36b14d965
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/sre.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+"""This file is only retained for backwards compatability.
+It will be removed in the future.  sre was moved to re in version 2.5.
+"""
+
+import warnings
+warnings.warn("The sre module is deprecated, please import re.",
+              DeprecationWarning, 2)
+
+from re import *
+from re import __all__