diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/proxy.py b/src/calibre/utils/ipc/proxy.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 349267a240..0000000000
--- a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/proxy.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,168 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python2
-# vim:fileencoding=UTF-8:ts=4:sw=4:sta:et:sts=4:ai
-from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
-                        print_function)
-
-__license__   = 'GPL v3'
-__copyright__ = '2011, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
-__docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
-
-import os, cPickle, struct
-from threading import Thread
-from Queue import Queue, Empty
-from multiprocessing.connection import arbitrary_address, Listener
-from functools import partial
-
-from calibre import as_unicode, prints
-from calibre.constants import iswindows, DEBUG
-from calibre.utils.ipc import eintr_retry_call
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type
-
-
-def _encode(msg):
-    raw = cPickle.dumps(msg, -1)
-    size = len(raw)
-    header = struct.pack('!Q', size)
-    return header + raw
-
-
-def _decode(raw):
-    sz = struct.calcsize('!Q')
-    if len(raw) < sz:
-        return 'invalid', None
-    header, = struct.unpack('!Q', raw[:sz])
-    if len(raw) != sz + header or header == 0:
-        return 'invalid', None
-    return cPickle.loads(raw[sz:])
-
-
-class Writer(Thread):
-
-    TIMEOUT = 60  # seconds
-
-    def __init__(self, conn):
-        Thread.__init__(self)
-        self.daemon = True
-        self.dataq, self.resultq = Queue(), Queue()
-        self.conn = conn
-        self.start()
-        self.data_written = False
-
-    def close(self):
-        self.dataq.put(None)
-
-    def flush(self):
-        pass
-
-    def write(self, raw_data):
-        self.dataq.put(raw_data)
-
-        try:
-            ex = self.resultq.get(True, self.TIMEOUT)
-        except Empty:
-            raise IOError('Writing to socket timed out')
-        else:
-            if ex is not None:
-                raise IOError('Writing to socket failed with error: %s' % ex)
-
-    def run(self):
-        while True:
-            x = self.dataq.get()
-            if x is None:
-                break
-            try:
-                self.data_written = True
-                eintr_retry_call(self.conn.send_bytes, x)
-            except Exception as e:
-                self.resultq.put(as_unicode(e))
-            else:
-                self.resultq.put(None)
-
-    def __enter__(self):
-        return self
-
-    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
-        self.close()
-
-
-class Server(Thread):
-
-    def __init__(self, dispatcher):
-        Thread.__init__(self)
-        self.daemon = True
-
-        self.auth_key = os.urandom(32)
-        self.address = arbitrary_address('AF_PIPE' if iswindows else 'AF_UNIX')
-        if iswindows and self.address[1] == ':':
-            self.address = self.address[2:]
-        self.listener = Listener(address=self.address,
-                authkey=self.auth_key, backlog=4)
-
-        self.keep_going = True
-        self.dispatcher = dispatcher
-
-    @property
-    def connection_information(self):
-        if not self.is_alive():
-            self.start()
-        return (self.address, self.auth_key)
-
-    def stop(self):
-        self.keep_going = False
-        try:
-            self.listener.close()
-        except:
-            pass
-
-    def run(self):
-        while self.keep_going:
-            try:
-                conn = eintr_retry_call(self.listener.accept)
-                self.handle_client(conn)
-            except:
-                pass
-
-    def handle_client(self, conn):
-        t = Thread(target=partial(self._handle_client, conn))
-        t.daemon = True
-        t.start()
-
-    def _handle_client(self, conn):
-        while True:
-            try:
-                func_name, args, kwargs = eintr_retry_call(conn.recv)
-            except EOFError:
-                try:
-                    conn.close()
-                except:
-                    pass
-                return
-            else:
-                try:
-                    self.call_func(func_name, args, kwargs, conn)
-                except:
-                    try:
-                        conn.close()
-                    except:
-                        pass
-                    prints('Proxy function: %s with args: %r and'
-                            ' kwargs: %r failed')
-                    if DEBUG:
-                        import traceback
-                        traceback.print_exc()
-                    break
-
-    def call_func(self, func_name, args, kwargs, conn):
-        with Writer(conn) as f:
-            try:
-                self.dispatcher(f, func_name, args, kwargs)
-            except Exception as e:
-                if not f.data_written:
-                    import traceback
-                    # Try to tell the client process what error happened
-                    try:
-                        eintr_retry_call(conn.send_bytes, (_encode(('failed', (unicode_type(e),
-                            as_unicode(traceback.format_exc()))))))
-                    except:
-                        pass
-                raise