diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-17-AL-deprecations.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-17-AL-deprecations.rst
index d83b63f561f6..4097437b3c08 100644
--- a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-17-AL-deprecations.rst
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-17-AL-deprecations.rst
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ API deprecations
 The following API elements are deprecated:
 
 - ``tk_window_focus``,
+- ``backend_ps.PsBackendHelper``, ``backend_ps.ps_backend_helper``,
 - ``cbook.iterable``,
 - ``mlab.demean``,
diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-31-AL-gs.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-31-AL-gs.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fad5dddac1d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-08-31-AL-gs.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Remove support for ghostscript 8.60
+```````````````````````````````````
+
+Support for ghostscript 8.60 (released in 2007) has been removed.  The oldest
+supported version of ghostscript is now 9.0 (released in 2010).
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index f68ce27a9470..1234817869da 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -175,11 +175,11 @@ def compare_versions(a, b):
     "return True if a is greater than or equal to b"
     if isinstance(a, bytes):
         cbook.warn_deprecated(
-            "3.0", "compare_version arguments should be strs.")
+            "3.0", "compare_versions arguments should be strs.")
         a = a.decode('ascii')
     if isinstance(b, bytes):
         cbook.warn_deprecated(
-            "3.0", "compare_version arguments should be strs.")
+            "3.0", "compare_versions arguments should be strs.")
         b = b.decode('ascii')
     if a:
         a = distutils.version.LooseVersion(a)
@@ -445,8 +445,9 @@ def checkdep_ghostscript():
                 stdout, stderr = s.communicate()
                 if s.returncode == 0:
                     v = stdout[:-1].decode('ascii')
-                    checkdep_ghostscript.executable = gs_exec
-                    checkdep_ghostscript.version = v
+                    if compare_versions(v, '9.0'):
+                        checkdep_ghostscript.executable = gs_exec
+                        checkdep_ghostscript.version = v
             except (IndexError, ValueError, OSError):
                 pass
     return checkdep_ghostscript.executable, checkdep_ghostscript.version
@@ -492,13 +493,12 @@ def checkdep_ps_distiller(s):
         return False
 
     flag = True
-    gs_req = '8.60'
     gs_exec, gs_v = checkdep_ghostscript()
-    if not compare_versions(gs_v, gs_req):
+    if not gs_exec:
         flag = False
-        warnings.warn(('matplotlibrc ps.usedistiller option can not be used '
-                       'unless ghostscript-%s or later is installed on your '
-                       'system') % gs_req)
+        warnings.warn('matplotlibrc ps.usedistiller option can not be used '
+                      'unless ghostscript 9.0 or later is installed on your '
+                      'system')
 
     if s == 'xpdf':
         pdftops_req = '3.0'
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
index 9b9d1cb2f2a3..5ea4d770929c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         self._cached = {}
 
     @property
+    @cbook.deprecated("3.1")
     def gs_exe(self):
         """
         executable name of ghostscript.
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ def gs_exe(self):
         return str(gs_exe)
 
     @property
+    @cbook.deprecated("3.1")
     def gs_version(self):
         """
         version of ghostscript.
@@ -86,6 +88,7 @@ def gs_version(self):
         return gs_version
 
     @property
+    @cbook.deprecated("3.1")
     def supports_ps2write(self):
         """
         True if the installed ghostscript supports ps2write device.
@@ -1465,15 +1468,10 @@ def gs_distill(tmpfile, eps=False, ptype='letter', bbox=None, rotated=False):
     psfile = tmpfile + '.ps'
     dpi = rcParams['ps.distiller.res']
 
-    gs_exe = ps_backend_helper.gs_exe
-    if ps_backend_helper.supports_ps2write:  # gs version >= 9
-        device_name = "ps2write"
-    else:
-        device_name = "pswrite"
-
+    gs_exe, gs_version = checkdep_ghostscript()
     cbook._check_and_log_subprocess(
         [gs_exe, "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE", "-r%d" % dpi,
-         "-sDEVICE=%s" % device_name, paper_option,
+         "-sDEVICE=ps2write", paper_option,
          "-sOutputFile=%s" % psfile, tmpfile], _log)
 
     os.remove(tmpfile)
@@ -1484,14 +1482,9 @@ def gs_distill(tmpfile, eps=False, ptype='letter', bbox=None, rotated=False):
     # the original bbox can be restored during the pstoeps step.
 
     if eps:
-        # For some versions of gs, above steps result in an ps file
-        # where the original bbox is no more correct. Do not adjust
-        # bbox for now.
-        if ps_backend_helper.supports_ps2write:
-            # fo gs version >= 9 w/ ps2write device
-            pstoeps(tmpfile, bbox, rotated=rotated)
-        else:
-            pstoeps(tmpfile)
+        # For some versions of gs, above steps result in an ps file where the
+        # original bbox is no more correct. Do not adjust bbox for now.
+        pstoeps(tmpfile, bbox, rotated=rotated)
 
 
 def xpdf_distill(tmpfile, eps=False, ptype='letter', bbox=None, rotated=False):