Issue #8848: U / U# formats of Py_BuildValue() are just alias to s / s#
diff --git a/Python/Python-ast.c b/Python/Python-ast.c
index 05fa541..bedd7d7 100644
--- a/Python/Python-ast.c
+++ b/Python/Python-ast.c
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@
         }
         PyTuple_SET_ITEM(fnames, i, field);
     }
-    result = PyObject_CallFunction((PyObject*)&PyType_Type, "U(O){sOss}",
+    result = PyObject_CallFunction((PyObject*)&PyType_Type, "s(O){sOss}",
                     type, base, "_fields", fnames, "__module__", "_ast");
     Py_DECREF(fnames);
     return (PyTypeObject*)result;
diff --git a/Python/errors.c b/Python/errors.c
index 3766973..4ae661a 100644
--- a/Python/errors.c
+++ b/Python/errors.c
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@
             goto failure;
     }
     /* Create a real new-style class. */
-    result = PyObject_CallFunction((PyObject *)&PyType_Type, "UOO",
+    result = PyObject_CallFunction((PyObject *)&PyType_Type, "sOO",
                                    dot+1, bases, dict);
   failure:
     Py_XDECREF(bases);
diff --git a/Python/modsupport.c b/Python/modsupport.c
index a68e10b..5f5d842 100644
--- a/Python/modsupport.c
+++ b/Python/modsupport.c
@@ -302,39 +302,7 @@
 
         case 's':
         case 'z':
-        {
-            PyObject *v;
-            char *str = va_arg(*p_va, char *);
-            Py_ssize_t n;
-            if (**p_format == '#') {
-                ++*p_format;
-                if (flags & FLAG_SIZE_T)
-                    n = va_arg(*p_va, Py_ssize_t);
-                else
-                    n = va_arg(*p_va, int);
-            }
-            else
-                n = -1;
-            if (str == NULL) {
-                v = Py_None;
-                Py_INCREF(v);
-            }
-            else {
-                if (n < 0) {
-                    size_t m = strlen(str);
-                    if (m > PY_SSIZE_T_MAX) {
-                        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError,
-                            "string too long for Python string");
-                        return NULL;
-                    }
-                    n = (Py_ssize_t)m;
-                }
-                v = PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(str, n);
-            }
-            return v;
-        }
-
-        case 'U':
+        case 'U':   /* XXX deprecated alias */
         {
             PyObject *v;
             char *str = va_arg(*p_va, char *);
diff --git a/Python/sysmodule.c b/Python/sysmodule.c
index 4c87d54..f1da9730c 100644
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c
@@ -1510,7 +1510,7 @@
                          PyLong_FromLong(PY_VERSION_HEX));
     svnversion_init();
     SET_SYS_FROM_STRING("subversion",
-                        Py_BuildValue("(UUU)", "CPython", branch,
+                        Py_BuildValue("(sss)", "CPython", branch,
                                       svn_revision));
     SET_SYS_FROM_STRING("dont_write_bytecode",
                          PyBool_FromLong(Py_DontWriteBytecodeFlag));