diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/Base.py b/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
index c9d86c7..1c05370 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
@@ -23,10 +23,7 @@ import os.path
 import re
 from sys import exc_info
 import traceback
-try: # python 2.6 has set() built in
-    set
-except NameError:
-    from sets import Set as set
+
 
 class BaseFolder(object):
     def __init__(self, name, repository):
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py b/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
index 17364d3..9d53e89 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ from sys import exc_info
 from Base import BaseFolder
 from offlineimap import imaputil, imaplibutil, OfflineImapError
 from offlineimap.imaplib2 import MonthNames
-try: # python 2.6 has set() built in
-    set
-except NameError:
-    from sets import Set as set
 
 
 class IMAPFolder(BaseFolder):
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatus.py b/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatus.py
index 9466d4f..e637d94 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatus.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatus.py
@@ -18,13 +18,10 @@
 from Base import BaseFolder
 import os
 import threading
-try: # python 2.6 has set() built in
-    set
-except NameError:
-    from sets import Set as set
 
 magicline = "OFFLINEIMAP LocalStatus CACHE DATA - DO NOT MODIFY - FORMAT 1"
 
+
 class LocalStatusFolder(BaseFolder):
     def __init__(self, name, repository):
         self.sep = '.' #needs to be set before super.__init__()
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatusSQLite.py b/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatusSQLite.py
index 6bfa667..f59d4b2 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatusSQLite.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/LocalStatusSQLite.py
@@ -23,10 +23,6 @@ try:
 except:
     pass #fail only if needed later on, not on import
 
-try: # python 2.6 has set() built in
-    set
-except NameError:
-    from sets import Set as set
 
 class LocalStatusSQLiteFolder(LocalStatusFolder):
     """LocalStatus backend implemented with an SQLite database
diff --git a/offlineimap/imaplibutil.py b/offlineimap/imaplibutil.py
index 4732446..2d5fc39 100644
--- a/offlineimap/imaplibutil.py
+++ b/offlineimap/imaplibutil.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import os
 import fcntl
 import re
 import socket
+import ssl
 import time
 import subprocess
 import threading
@@ -28,11 +29,6 @@ from offlineimap.ui import getglobalui
 from offlineimap import OfflineImapError
 from offlineimap.imaplib2 import IMAP4, IMAP4_SSL, zlib, IMAP4_PORT, InternalDate, Mon2num
 
-try:
-    import ssl
-except ImportError:
-    #fails on python <2.6
-    pass
 
 class UsefulIMAPMixIn(object):
     def getselectedfolder(self):
diff --git a/offlineimap/imapserver.py b/offlineimap/imapserver.py
index 609b6fa..16d0cac 100644
--- a/offlineimap/imapserver.py
+++ b/offlineimap/imapserver.py
@@ -27,11 +27,7 @@ import time
 import errno
 from sys import exc_info
 from socket import gaierror
-try:
-    from ssl import SSLError, cert_time_to_seconds
-except ImportError:
-    # Protect against python<2.6, use dummy and won't get SSL errors.
-    SSLError = None
+from ssl import SSLError, cert_time_to_seconds
 
 try:
     # do we have a recent pykerberos?
@@ -323,7 +319,7 @@ class IMAPServer:
                          (self.hostname, self.repos)
                 raise OfflineImapError(reason, severity)
 
-            elif SSLError and isinstance(e, SSLError) and e.errno == 1:
+            elif isinstance(e, SSLError) and e.errno == 1:
                 # SSL unknown protocol error
                 # happens e.g. when connecting via SSL to a non-SSL service
                 if self.port != 993:
diff --git a/offlineimap/imaputil.py b/offlineimap/imaputil.py
index f9b021c..f1be3c7 100644
--- a/offlineimap/imaputil.py
+++ b/offlineimap/imaputil.py
@@ -20,10 +20,7 @@ import re
 import string
 import types
 from offlineimap.ui import getglobalui
-try: # python 2.6 has set() built in
-    set
-except NameError:
-    from sets import Set as set
+
 
 # find the first quote in a string
 quotere = re.compile(