diff --git a/docs/dev-setup-non-vagrant.md b/docs/dev-setup-non-vagrant.md
index 97bee45c1d..a88ff7bbfb 100644
--- a/docs/dev-setup-non-vagrant.md
+++ b/docs/dev-setup-non-vagrant.md
@@ -295,24 +295,18 @@ Make sure you have followed the steps specific for your platform:
 For managing Zulip's python dependencies, we recommend using
 [virtualenvs](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/stable/).
 
-You must create two virtualenvs. One for Python 2 and one for Python 3.
-You must also install appropriate python packages in them.
+You must create a Python 3 virtualenv.  You must also install appropriate
+python packages in it.
 
-You should either install the virtualenvs in `/srv`, or put symlinks to
-them in `/srv`.  If you don't do that, some scripts might not work correctly.
+You should either install the virtualenv in `/srv`, or put a symlink to it in
+`/srv`.  If you don't do that, some scripts might not work correctly.
 
-You can run `tools/setup/setup_venvs.py` to do this.  This script will create two
-virtualenvs - /srv/zulip-venv and /srv/zulip-py3-venv.
+You can run `python3 tools/setup/setup_venvs.py`.  This script will create a
+virtualenv `/srv/zulip-py3-venv`.
 
 If you want to do it manually, here are the steps:
 
 ```
-sudo virtualenv /srv/zulip-venv -p python2 # Create a python2 virtualenv
-sudo chown -R `whoami`:`whoami` /srv/zulip-venv
-source /srv/zulip-venv/bin/activate # Activate python2 virtualenv
-pip install --upgrade pip # upgrade pip itself because older versions have known issues
-pip install --no-deps -r requirements/py2_dev.txt # install python packages required for development
-
 sudo virtualenv /srv/zulip-py3-venv -p python3 # Create a python3 virtualenv
 sudo chown -R `whoami`:`whoami` /srv/zulip-py3-venv
 source /srv/zulip-py3-venv/bin/activate # Activate python3 virtualenv
diff --git a/tools/provision b/tools/provision
index c143714b54..0a79d0c439 100755
--- a/tools/provision
+++ b/tools/provision
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ if [ "$EUID" -eq 0 ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+if [ -n "$TRAVIS" ]; then
+    PYTHON=python
+else
+    PYTHON=python3
+fi
+
 #Make the script independent of the location from where it is
 #executed
 PARENT_PATH=$( cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")" ; pwd -P )
@@ -23,7 +29,7 @@ echo "PROVISIONING STARTING." >> $LOG_PATH
 # PYTHONUNBUFFERED is important to ensure that tracebacks don't get
 # lost far above where they should be in the output.
 export PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
-python "$PROVISION_PATH" $@ 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_PATH"
+"$PYTHON" "$PROVISION_PATH" $@ 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_PATH"
 failed=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
 
 if [ $failed = 1 ]; then
@@ -36,5 +42,14 @@ if [ $failed = 1 ]; then
     echo "* Logs are here: zulip/var/log/provision.log"
     echo -e "\033[0m"
     exit 1
+elif [ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "/srv/zulip-py3-venv" ] && [ -z "$TRAVIS" ]; then
+    echo -e "\033[0;31m"
+    echo "WARNING: This shell does not have the Python 3 virtualenv activated."
+    echo "Zulip commands will fail."
+    echo
+    echo "To update the shell, run:"
+    echo "    source /srv/zulip-py3-venv/bin/activate"
+    echo "or just close this shell and start a new one."
+    echo -en "\033[0m"
 fi
 exit 0
diff --git a/tools/setup/setup_venvs.py b/tools/setup/setup_venvs.py
index b8828f03af..d6d17cbcd6 100755
--- a/tools/setup/setup_venvs.py
+++ b/tools/setup/setup_venvs.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ if ZULIP_PATH not in sys.path:
     sys.path.append(ZULIP_PATH)
 
 from scripts.lib.setup_venv import setup_virtualenv
+from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import run
 
 PY2_VENV_PATH = "/srv/zulip-venv"
 PY3_VENV_PATH = "/srv/zulip-py3-venv"
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ def main(is_travis=False):
             setup_virtualenv(PY3_VENV_PATH, PY3_DEV_REQS_FILE, patch_activate_script=True,
                              virtualenv_args=['-p', 'python3'])
     else:
-        setup_virtualenv(PY2_VENV_PATH, PY2_DEV_REQS_FILE, patch_activate_script=True)
+        run(['sudo', 'rm', '-f', PY2_VENV_PATH])
         setup_virtualenv(PY3_VENV_PATH, PY3_DEV_REQS_FILE, patch_activate_script=True,
                          virtualenv_args=['-p', 'python3'])