diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 767662c585..6b5c469379 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 # Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 
-
-if (getRversion() >= "4.0.0") {
-  importFrom(tools, R_user_dir)
-} else {
-  importFrom(backports, R_user_dir)
-}
 S3method("[",lints)
 S3method(as.data.frame,lints)
 S3method(format,lint)
@@ -183,6 +177,7 @@ importFrom(rex,re_substitutes)
 importFrom(rex,regex)
 importFrom(rex,rex)
 importFrom(stats,na.omit)
+importFrom(tools,R_user_dir)
 importFrom(utils,capture.output)
 importFrom(utils,getParseData)
 importFrom(utils,getTxtProgressBar)
diff --git a/R/absolute_path_linter.R b/R/absolute_path_linter.R
index a27ebc1ea4..38fffd40b5 100644
--- a/R/absolute_path_linter.R
+++ b/R/absolute_path_linter.R
@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@
 #' * contain at least two path elements, with one having at least two characters and
 #' * contain only alphanumeric chars (including UTF-8), spaces, and win32-allowed punctuation
 #'
-#' @examplesIf getRversion() >= "4.0"
-#' # Following examples use raw character constant syntax introduced in R 4.0.
-#'
+#' @examples
 #' # will produce lints
 #' lint(
 #'   text = 'R"--[/blah/file.txt]--"',
diff --git a/R/lintr-package.R b/R/lintr-package.R
index 27f55bee35..70f8d0d115 100644
--- a/R/lintr-package.R
+++ b/R/lintr-package.R
@@ -12,16 +12,11 @@
 #' @importFrom glue glue glue_collapse
 #' @importFrom rex rex regex re_matches re_substitutes character_class
 #' @importFrom stats na.omit
+#' @importFrom tools R_user_dir
 #' @importFrom utils capture.output getParseData getTxtProgressBar globalVariables head relist
 #'   setTxtProgressBar tail txtProgressBar
 #' @importFrom xml2 as_list
 #'   xml_attr xml_children xml_find_all xml_find_chr xml_find_lgl xml_find_num xml_find_first xml_name xml_text
-#' @rawNamespace
-#' if (getRversion() >= "4.0.0") {
-#'   importFrom(tools, R_user_dir)
-#' } else {
-#'   importFrom(backports, R_user_dir)
-#' }
 ## lintr namespace: end
 NULL
 
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index f6e7090283..531ac1d89b 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -198,10 +198,9 @@ platform_independent_sort <- function(x) x[platform_independent_order(x)]
 #' Extract text from `STR_CONST` nodes
 #'
 #' Convert `STR_CONST` `text()` values into R strings. This is useful to account for arbitrary
-#'  character literals valid since R 4.0, e.g. `R"------[hello]------"`, which is parsed in
-#'  R as `"hello"`. It is quite cumbersome to write XPaths allowing for strings like this,
-#'  so whenever your linter logic requires testing a `STR_CONST` node's value, use this
-#'  function.
+#'  character literals, e.g. `R"------[hello]------"`, which is parsed in R as `"hello"`.
+#'  It is quite cumbersome to write XPaths allowing for strings like this, so whenever your
+#'  linter logic requires testing a `STR_CONST` node's value, use this function.
 #' NB: this is also properly vectorized on `s`, and accepts a variety of inputs. Empty inputs
 #'  will become `NA` outputs, which helps ensure that `length(get_r_string(s)) == length(s)`.
 #'
@@ -219,15 +218,14 @@ platform_independent_sort <- function(x) x[platform_independent_order(x)]
 #' get_r_string(expr_as_xml, "expr[3]")
 #' unlink(tmp)
 #'
-#' # more importantly, extract strings under R>=4 raw strings
-#' @examplesIf getRversion() >= "4.0.0"
-#' tmp4.0 <- tempfile()
-#' writeLines("c(R'(a\\b)', R'--[a\\\"\'\"\\b]--')", tmp4.0)
-#' expr_as_xml4.0 <- get_source_expressions(tmp4.0)$expressions[[1L]]$xml_parsed_content
-#' writeLines(as.character(expr_as_xml4.0))
-#' get_r_string(expr_as_xml4.0, "expr[2]")
-#' get_r_string(expr_as_xml4.0, "expr[3]")
-#' unlink(tmp4.0)
+#' # more importantly, extract raw strings correctly
+#' tmp_raw <- tempfile()
+#' writeLines("c(R'(a\\b)', R'--[a\\\"\'\"\\b]--')", tmp_raw)
+#' expr_as_xml_raw <- get_source_expressions(tmp_raw)$expressions[[1L]]$xml_parsed_content
+#' writeLines(as.character(expr_as_xml_raw))
+#' get_r_string(expr_as_xml_raw, "expr[2]")
+#' get_r_string(expr_as_xml_raw, "expr[3]")
+#' unlink(tmp_raw)
 #'
 #' @export
 get_r_string <- function(s, xpath = NULL) {
diff --git a/R/zzz.R b/R/zzz.R
index 2915392974..b8d317d9fc 100644
--- a/R/zzz.R
+++ b/R/zzz.R
@@ -295,9 +295,8 @@ settings <- new.env(parent = emptyenv())
   toset <- !(names(op_lintr) %in% names(op))
   if (any(toset)) options(op_lintr[toset])
 
-  # R>=4.0.0: deparse1
   # R>=4.1.0: ...names
-  backports::import(pkgname, c("deparse1", "...names"))
+  backports::import(pkgname, "...names")
 
   utils::assignInMyNamespace("default_settings", list(
     linters = default_linters,
diff --git a/man/absolute_path_linter.Rd b/man/absolute_path_linter.Rd
index f8b40a312a..04fa1cf1a3 100644
--- a/man/absolute_path_linter.Rd
+++ b/man/absolute_path_linter.Rd
@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@ If \code{TRUE}, only lint path strings, which
 Check that no absolute paths are used (e.g. "/var", "C:\\System", "~/docs").
 }
 \examples{
-\dontshow{if (getRversion() >= "4.0") (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
-# Following examples use raw character constant syntax introduced in R 4.0.
-
 # will produce lints
 lint(
   text = 'R"--[/blah/file.txt]--"',
@@ -32,7 +29,7 @@ lint(
   text = 'R"(./blah)"',
   linters = absolute_path_linter()
 )
-\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
+
 }
 \seealso{
 \itemize{
diff --git a/man/get_r_string.Rd b/man/get_r_string.Rd
index b1564c6017..418d0f17c0 100644
--- a/man/get_r_string.Rd
+++ b/man/get_r_string.Rd
@@ -15,10 +15,9 @@ and \code{xpath} is specified, it is extracted with \code{\link[xml2:xml_find_al
 }
 \description{
 Convert \code{STR_CONST} \code{text()} values into R strings. This is useful to account for arbitrary
-character literals valid since R 4.0, e.g. \code{R"------[hello]------"}, which is parsed in
-R as \code{"hello"}. It is quite cumbersome to write XPaths allowing for strings like this,
-so whenever your linter logic requires testing a \code{STR_CONST} node's value, use this
-function.
+character literals, e.g. \code{R"------[hello]------"}, which is parsed in R as \code{"hello"}.
+It is quite cumbersome to write XPaths allowing for strings like this, so whenever your
+linter logic requires testing a \code{STR_CONST} node's value, use this function.
 NB: this is also properly vectorized on \code{s}, and accepts a variety of inputs. Empty inputs
 will become \code{NA} outputs, which helps ensure that \code{length(get_r_string(s)) == length(s)}.
 }
@@ -31,14 +30,13 @@ get_r_string(expr_as_xml, "expr[2]")
 get_r_string(expr_as_xml, "expr[3]")
 unlink(tmp)
 
-# more importantly, extract strings under R>=4 raw strings
-\dontshow{if (getRversion() >= "4.0.0") (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
-tmp4.0 <- tempfile()
-writeLines("c(R'(a\\\\b)', R'--[a\\\\\"\'\"\\\\b]--')", tmp4.0)
-expr_as_xml4.0 <- get_source_expressions(tmp4.0)$expressions[[1L]]$xml_parsed_content
-writeLines(as.character(expr_as_xml4.0))
-get_r_string(expr_as_xml4.0, "expr[2]")
-get_r_string(expr_as_xml4.0, "expr[3]")
-unlink(tmp4.0)
-\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
+# more importantly, extract raw strings correctly
+tmp_raw <- tempfile()
+writeLines("c(R'(a\\\\b)', R'--[a\\\\\"\'\"\\\\b]--')", tmp_raw)
+expr_as_xml_raw <- get_source_expressions(tmp_raw)$expressions[[1L]]$xml_parsed_content
+writeLines(as.character(expr_as_xml_raw))
+get_r_string(expr_as_xml_raw, "expr[2]")
+get_r_string(expr_as_xml_raw, "expr[3]")
+unlink(tmp_raw)
+
 }