Turns out the formatter module isn't really used by anyone. Pydoc uses it, but it could easily use textwrap. Searching on Github shows a usage by someone who simply re-exposes it as part of their own public API but has no actual usage themselves (https://github.com/search?q=%22import+formatter%22&ref=searchresults&type=Code and https://github.com/search?q=%22from+formatter%22&type=Code&ref=searchresults) . A Google search only turns up references in books (https://www.google.ca/search?{google:acceptedSuggestion}oq=%22import+formatter%22&{google:instantFieldTrialGroupParameter}sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22import+formatter%22&qscrl=1#bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=7bfd11bde90d01cb&q=%22import+formatter%22+OR+%22from+formatter%22&qscrl=1).

The attached patch deprecated formatter for removal in Python 3.6.

+1

Making a deferred blocker to make sure I get around to deprecating before b1.

New changeset 04ff1cc40d62 by Brett Cannon in branch 'default':
Issue #18716: Deprecate the formatter module
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/04ff1cc40d62

Need to add a note to PEP 4.

Documented in f1fde6ef92e2

formatter module is used by (Python-3-compatible) Portage (package manager for Gentoo):
http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/portage.git;a=summary

Maybe deprecation should be reverted.

They're not on Python 3.  I think we should keep the deprecation and let them roll their own when they upgrade.  It's not like the module provides much functionality in the first place.

On Sun, Dec 1, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Larry Hastings <report@bugs.python.org>wrote:

>
> Larry Hastings added the comment:
>
> They're not on Python 3.  I think we should keep the deprecation and let
> them roll their own when they upgrade.  It's not like the module provides
> much functionality in the first place.
>

What Larry said. =) Plus a single user in the world is not enough to
warrant keeping a module. The code is simple enough that if they want to
keep it they can simply copy it into their own code.

Just bumped into this. 

Is the removal for this module waiting for the end of Python 2.7 support as PEP 4 states for modules in Py2 and Py3? 

The first message calls for a removal in 3.6 so, I'm either missing some additional conversations on this or this might of just have been forgotten.

Yes, the code won't be deleted until we're in a post-2.7 world.