diff --git a/Doc/lib/libshelve.tex b/Doc/lib/libshelve.tex
index 17ef3e50926..47f7ef67df3 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libshelve.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libshelve.tex
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ instances, recursive data types, and objects containing lots of shared
 sub-objects.  The keys are ordinary strings.
 \refstmodindex{pickle}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{open}{filename\optional{,flag='c'\optional{,protocol=\code{None}\optional{,writeback=\code{False}\optional{,binary=\code{None}}}}}}
+\begin{funcdesc}{open}{filename\optional{,flag='c'\optional{,protocol=\code{None}\optional{,writeback=\code{False}}}}}
 Open a persistent dictionary.  The filename specified is the base filename
 for the underlying database.  As a side-effect, an extension may be added to
 the filename and more than one file may be created.  By default, the
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@ parameter of \function{anydbm.open}.
 By default, version 0 pickles are used to serialize values. 
 The version of the pickle protocol can be specified with the
 \var{protocol} parameter. \versionchanged[The \var{protocol}
-parameter was added. The \var{binary} parameter is deprecated
-and provided for backwards compatibility only]{2.3}
+parameter was added]{2.3}
 
 By default, mutations to persistent-dictionary mutable entries are not
 automatically written back.  If the optional \var{writeback} parameter
@@ -76,7 +75,7 @@ requires knowledge about the database implementation used.
 
 \end{itemize}
 
-\begin{classdesc}{Shelf}{dict\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False\optional{, binary=None}}}}
+\begin{classdesc}{Shelf}{dict\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False}}}
 A subclass of \class{UserDict.DictMixin} which stores pickled values in the
 \var{dict} object.  
 
@@ -84,8 +83,7 @@ By default, version 0 pickles are used to serialize values.  The
 version of the pickle protocol can be specified with the
 \var{protocol} parameter. See the \module{pickle} documentation for a
 discussion of the pickle protocols. \versionchanged[The \var{protocol}
-parameter was added. The \var{binary} parameter is deprecated and
-provided for backwards compatibility only]{2.3}
+parameter was added]{2.3}
 
 If the \var{writeback} parameter is \code{True}, the object will hold a
 cache of all entries accessed and write them back to the \var{dict} at
@@ -93,7 +91,7 @@ sync and close times.  This allows natural operations on mutable entries,
 but can consume much more memory and make sync and close take a long time.
 \end{classdesc}
 
-\begin{classdesc}{BsdDbShelf}{dict\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False\optional{, binary=None}}}}
+\begin{classdesc}{BsdDbShelf}{dict\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False}}}
 
 A subclass of \class{Shelf} which exposes \method{first},
 \method{next}, \method{previous}, \method{last} and
@@ -102,19 +100,19 @@ but not in other database modules.  The \var{dict} object passed to
 the constructor must support those methods.  This is generally
 accomplished by calling one of \function{bsddb.hashopen},
 \function{bsddb.btopen} or \function{bsddb.rnopen}.  The optional
-\var{protocol}, \var{writeback}, and \var{binary} parameters have the
+\var{protocol} and \var{writeback} parameters have the
 same interpretation as for the \class{Shelf} class.
 
 \end{classdesc}
 
-\begin{classdesc}{DbfilenameShelf}{filename\optional{, flag='c'\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False\optional{, binary=None}}}}}
+\begin{classdesc}{DbfilenameShelf}{filename\optional{, flag='c'\optional{, protocol=None\optional{, writeback=False}}}}
 
 A subclass of \class{Shelf} which accepts a \var{filename} instead of
 a dict-like object.  The underlying file will be opened using
 {}\function{anydbm.open}.  By default, the file will be created and
 opened for both read and write.  The optional \var{flag} parameter has
 the same interpretation as for the \function{open} function.  The
-optional \var{protocol}, \var{writeback}, and \var{binary} parameters
+optional \var{protocol} and \var{writeback} parameters
 have the same interpretation as for the \class{Shelf} class.
  
 \end{classdesc}
diff --git a/Lib/shelve.py b/Lib/shelve.py
index 5e680bc3c68..4959c262c3e 100644
--- a/Lib/shelve.py
+++ b/Lib/shelve.py
@@ -80,14 +80,8 @@ class Shelf(UserDict.DictMixin):
     See the module's __doc__ string for an overview of the interface.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, dict, protocol=None, writeback=False, binary=None):
+    def __init__(self, dict, protocol=None, writeback=False):
         self.dict = dict
-        if protocol is not None and binary is not None:
-            raise ValueError, "can't specify both 'protocol' and 'binary'"
-        if binary is not None:
-            warnings.warn("The 'binary' argument to Shelf() is deprecated",
-                          PendingDeprecationWarning)
-            protocol = int(binary)
         if protocol is None:
             protocol = 0
         self._protocol = protocol
@@ -171,8 +165,8 @@ class BsdDbShelf(Shelf):
     See the module's __doc__ string for an overview of the interface.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, dict, protocol=None, writeback=False, binary=None):
-        Shelf.__init__(self, dict, protocol, writeback, binary)
+    def __init__(self, dict, protocol=None, writeback=False):
+        Shelf.__init__(self, dict, protocol, writeback)
 
     def set_location(self, key):
         (key, value) = self.dict.set_location(key)
@@ -207,12 +201,12 @@ class DbfilenameShelf(Shelf):
     See the module's __doc__ string for an overview of the interface.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, filename, flag='c', protocol=None, writeback=False, binary=None):
+    def __init__(self, filename, flag='c', protocol=None, writeback=False):
         import anydbm
-        Shelf.__init__(self, anydbm.open(filename, flag), protocol, writeback, binary)
+        Shelf.__init__(self, anydbm.open(filename, flag), protocol, writeback)
 
 
-def open(filename, flag='c', protocol=None, writeback=False, binary=None):
+def open(filename, flag='c', protocol=None, writeback=False):
     """Open a persistent dictionary for reading and writing.
 
     The filename parameter is the base filename for the underlying
@@ -222,10 +216,7 @@ def open(filename, flag='c', protocol=None, writeback=False, binary=None):
     anydbm.open(). The optional protocol parameter specifies the
     version of the pickle protocol (0, 1, or 2).
 
-    The optional binary parameter is deprecated and may be set to True
-    to force the use of binary pickles for serializing data values.
-
     See the module's __doc__ string for an overview of the interface.
     """
 
-    return DbfilenameShelf(filename, flag, protocol, writeback, binary)
+    return DbfilenameShelf(filename, flag, protocol, writeback)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shelve.py b/Lib/test/test_shelve.py
index e3f237d9f6e..447d06d70eb 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_shelve.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shelve.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ class TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_ascii_file_shelf(self):
         try:
-            s = shelve.open(self.fn, binary=False)
+            s = shelve.open(self.fn, protocol=0)
             s['key1'] = (1,2,3,4)
             self.assertEqual(s['key1'], (1,2,3,4))
             s.close()
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_binary_file_shelf(self):
         try:
-            s = shelve.open(self.fn, binary=True)
+            s = shelve.open(self.fn, protocol=1)
             s['key1'] = (1,2,3,4)
             self.assertEqual(s['key1'], (1,2,3,4))
             s.close()
@@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ class TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_in_memory_shelf(self):
         d1 = {}
-        s = shelve.Shelf(d1, binary=False)
+        s = shelve.Shelf(d1, protocol=0)
         s['key1'] = (1,2,3,4)
         self.assertEqual(s['key1'], (1,2,3,4))
         s.close()
         d2 = {}
-        s = shelve.Shelf(d2, binary=True)
+        s = shelve.Shelf(d2, protocol=1)
         s['key1'] = (1,2,3,4)
         self.assertEqual(s['key1'], (1,2,3,4))
         s.close()
@@ -102,19 +102,19 @@ class TestShelveBase(mapping_tests.BasicTestMappingProtocol):
                 os.unlink(f)
 
 class TestAsciiFileShelve(TestShelveBase):
-    _args={'binary':False}
+    _args={'protocol':0}
     _in_mem = False
 class TestBinaryFileShelve(TestShelveBase):
-    _args={'binary':True}
+    _args={'protocol':1}
     _in_mem = False
 class TestProto2FileShelve(TestShelveBase):
     _args={'protocol':2}
     _in_mem = False
 class TestAsciiMemShelve(TestShelveBase):
-    _args={'binary':False}
+    _args={'protocol':0}
     _in_mem = True
 class TestBinaryMemShelve(TestShelveBase):
-    _args={'binary':True}
+    _args={'protocol':1}
     _in_mem = True
 class TestProto2MemShelve(TestShelveBase):
     _args={'protocol':2}
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 707429b7dd7..ee0e03a0a4b 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ Extension Modules
 Library
 -------
 
+- the shelve module no longer uses the deprecated binary parameter.
+
 - the pstats module no longer uses the deprecated ignore() method.
 
 - the filecmp module no longer uses the deprecated use_statcache argument.