diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 35c246bdb98..6b4f316b5f0 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -204,6 +204,9 @@ Core and Builtins
   libraries are: Mach C threads, SunOS LWP, GNU pth, Irix threads. Support code
   will be entirely removed in 3.3.
 
+- Support for OSF* has been disabled. If nobody stands up, support will be
+  removed in 3.3. See http://bugs.python.org/issue8606 .
+
 - Peephole constant folding had missed UNARY_POSITIVE.
 
 - Issue #1722344: threading._shutdown() is now called in Py_Finalize(), which
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f0eb99e6daf..d3fce2f38f0 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -13554,6 +13554,12 @@ fi
 
 
 
+case $ac_sys_system in
+  OSF*) as_fn_error "OSF* systems are deprecated unless somebody volunteers. Check http://bugs.python.org/issue8606" "$LINENO" 5 ;;
+esac
+
+
+
 for h in `(cd $srcdir;echo Python/thread_*.h)`
 do
   THREADHEADERS="$THREADHEADERS \$(srcdir)/$h"
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index f991823f221..7aa86d46cf6 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -4165,6 +4165,13 @@ fi],
 [AC_MSG_RESULT(no)])
 
 
+
+case $ac_sys_system in
+  OSF*) AC_MSG_ERROR(OSF* systems are deprecated unless somebody volunteers. Check http://bugs.python.org/issue8606) ;;
+esac
+
+
+
 AC_SUBST(THREADHEADERS)
 
 for h in `(cd $srcdir;echo Python/thread_*.h)`