diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/models.py b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
index 972aab239bb..b9ba0193bac 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/models.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import re
-import urllib
+import warnings
 
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.mail import send_mail
@@ -405,6 +405,8 @@ class User(AbstractBaseUser):
         Returns site-specific profile for this user. Raises
         SiteProfileNotAvailable if this site does not allow profiles.
         """
+        warnings.warn("The use of AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE to define user profiles has been deprecated.",
+            PendingDeprecationWarning)
         if not hasattr(self, '_profile_cache'):
             from django.conf import settings
             if not getattr(settings, 'AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE', False):
diff --git a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
index 4add7519126..45febb7c6b6 100644
--- a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
+++ b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
@@ -286,6 +286,9 @@ these changes.
 * The ``mimetype`` argument to :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` ``__init__``
   will be removed (``content_type`` should be used instead).
 
+* The ``AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE`` setting, and the ``get_profile()`` method on
+  the User model, will be removed.
+
 2.0
 ---
 
diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index 8ab3f90a634..65844b2eb2b 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -110,16 +110,6 @@ A tuple of authentication backend classes (as strings) to use when attempting to
 authenticate a user. See the :doc:`authentication backends documentation
 </ref/authbackends>` for details.
 
-.. setting:: AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE
-
-AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE
--------------------
-
-Default: Not defined
-
-The site-specific user profile model used by this site. See
-:ref:`auth-profiles`.
-
 .. setting:: AUTH_USER_MODEL
 
 AUTH_USER_MODEL
@@ -2243,6 +2233,22 @@ ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX
    integration. See the :doc:`Django 1.4 release notes</releases/1.4>` for
    more information.
 
+.. setting:: AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE
+
+AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE
+-------------------
+
+.. deprecated:: 1.5
+    With the introduction of :ref:`custom User models <auth-custom-user>`,
+    the use of :setting:`AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE` to define a single profile
+    model is no longer supported. See the
+    :doc:`Django 1.5 release notes</releases/1.5>` for more information.
+
+Default: Not defined
+
+The site-specific user profile model used by this site. See
+:ref:`auth-profiles`.
+
 .. setting:: IGNORABLE_404_ENDS
 
 IGNORABLE_404_ENDS
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.5.txt b/docs/releases/1.5.txt
index 921742163f5..a72d3dba99f 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.5.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.5.txt
@@ -389,3 +389,16 @@ The markup contrib module has been deprecated and will follow an accelerated
 deprecation schedule. Direct use of python markup libraries or 3rd party tag
 libraries is preferred to Django maintaining this functionality in the
 framework.
+
+:setting:`AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE`
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+With the introduction of :ref:`custom User models <auth-custom-user>`, there is
+no longer any need for a built-in mechanism to store user profile data.
+
+You can still define user profiles models that have a one-to-one relation with
+the User model - in fact, for many applications needing to associate data with
+a User account, this will be an appropriate design pattern to follow. However,
+the :setting:`AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE` setting, and the
+:meth:`~django.contrib.auth.models.User.get_profile()` method for accessing
+the user profile model, should not be used any longer.
diff --git a/docs/topics/auth.txt b/docs/topics/auth.txt
index c141d9eb158..553ec7b516c 100644
--- a/docs/topics/auth.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/auth.txt
@@ -586,6 +586,12 @@ correct path and environment for you.
 Storing additional information about users
 ------------------------------------------
 
+.. deprecated:: 1.5
+    With the introduction of :ref:`custom User models <auth-custom-user>`,
+    the use of :setting:`AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE` to define a single profile
+    model is no longer supported. See the
+    :doc:`Django 1.5 release notes</releases/1.5>` for more information.
+
 If you'd like to store additional information related to your users, Django
 provides a method to specify a site-specific related model -- termed a "user
 profile" -- for this purpose.
@@ -952,7 +958,7 @@ The login_required decorator
         (r'^accounts/login/$', 'django.contrib.auth.views.login'),
 
     .. versionchanged:: 1.5
-    
+
     As of version 1.5 :setting:`settings.LOGIN_URL <LOGIN_URL>` now also accepts
     view function names and :ref:`named URL patterns <naming-url-patterns>`.
     This allows you to freely remap your login view within your URLconf