Comment 2 for bug 871450

For the location of where it is being done, I think it would be fine to just use the json/simplejson module here. The only place that actively uses the code is in "remove_expensive_references", as that is the only place that writes out a new file.

The test suite passes here, so I'm not sure what the specific problem is, but I think just depending on json is reasonable at this point. (The compatibility hacks have long since served their purpose.)