diff --git a/docs/upgrade.rst b/docs/upgrade.rst
index f13fbcf56d..c173a71bbe 100644
--- a/docs/upgrade.rst
+++ b/docs/upgrade.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,47 @@ to a new version. But it goes into more detail. This includes things like
 deprecated APIs and their replacements, build system changes, general code
 modernization and other useful information.
 
+.. _upgrade-guide-2.7:
+
+v2.7
+====
+
+The previously-deprecated constructor of ``py::module_`` now creates a Python
+module object that is *not* used as the top-level module of a C extension.
+Previous usage of the deprecated ``PYBIND11_PLUGIN`` macro using the constructor
+instead of ``py::module_::create_extension_module`` will result in the following error
+on import: ``SystemError: initialization of example did not return an extension module``.
+
+In this case, change the following doubly-deprecated, memory-leaking pattern:
+
+    .. code-block:: cpp
+
+        PYBIND11_PLUGIN(example) {
+            auto m = pybind11::module_("example", "pybind11 example plugin");
+            /// Set up bindings here
+            return m.ptr();
+        }
+
+into this:
+
+    .. code-block:: cpp
+
+        static pybind11::module_::module_def example_module_def;
+        PYBIND11_PLUGIN(example) {
+            auto m = pybind11::module_::create_extension_module(
+                "example", "pybind11 example plugin", &example_module_def);
+            /// Set up bindings here
+            return m.ptr();
+        }
+
+or, preferably, avoid the deprecated ``PYBIND11_PLUGIN`` completely:
+
+    .. code-block:: cpp
+
+        PYBIND11_MODULE(example, m) {
+            /// Set up bindings here
+        }
+
 .. _upgrade-guide-2.6:
 
 v2.6
diff --git a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
index cb05bd14d1..898bd11e12 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
@@ -272,8 +272,10 @@ extern "C" {
 
     .. code-block:: cpp
 
+        static pybind11::module_::module_def example_module_def;
         PYBIND11_PLUGIN(example) {
-            pybind11::module_ m("example", "pybind11 example plugin");
+            auto m = pybind11::module_::create_extension_module(
+                "example", "pybind11 example plugin", &example_module_def);
             /// Set up bindings here
             return m.ptr();
         }
diff --git a/include/pybind11/pybind11.h b/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
index 96f3ff805b..3f47390af3 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
@@ -887,19 +887,38 @@ class cpp_function : public function {
     }
 };
 
-/// Wrapper for Python extension modules
+/// Wrapper for Python modules
 class module_ : public object {
 public:
     PYBIND11_OBJECT_DEFAULT(module_, object, PyModule_Check)
 
-    /// Create a new top-level Python module with the given name and docstring
-    PYBIND11_DEPRECATED("Use PYBIND11_MODULE or module_::create_extension_module instead")
+    /** \rst
+        Create a new top-level Python module with the given name and docstring.
+
+        Note that this cannot be used as the top-level module for a C extension.
+        Use `module_::create_extension_module` to create a module object that is
+        accepted by Python as top-level C extension module, returned from the
+        extension's ``PyInit_foo`` entry point (``initfoo`` in Python 2).
+        If you do *not* need a top-level C extension module, this constructor has
+        the advantage of not needing a ``PyModuleDef`` and thus being easier to use
+        w.r.t. memory management.
+    \endrst */
     explicit module_(const char *name, const char *doc = nullptr) {
-#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
-        *this = create_extension_module(name, doc, new PyModuleDef());
+#if defined(PYPY_VERSION) && (PYPY_VERSION_NUM < 0x07030400)
+        m_ptr = PyModule_New(const_cast<char *>(name));
 #else
-        *this = create_extension_module(name, doc, nullptr);
+        m_ptr = PyModule_New(name);
 #endif
+        if (!m_ptr)
+            pybind11_fail("Could not allocate module object!");
+        if (doc && options::show_user_defined_docstrings()) {
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3 && !defined(PYPY_VERSION)
+            if (PyModule_SetDocString(m_ptr, doc) != 0)
+                throw error_already_set();
+#else
+            setattr(m_ptr, "__doc__", PYBIND11_STR_TYPE(doc));
+#endif
+        }
     }
 
     /** \rst
diff --git a/tests/test_modules.cpp b/tests/test_modules.cpp
index 67387e809b..897cf89c46 100644
--- a/tests/test_modules.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_modules.cpp
@@ -62,8 +62,7 @@ TEST_SUBMODULE(modules, m) {
         class Dupe3 { };
         class DupeException { };
 
-        // Go ahead and leak, until we have a non-leaking py::module_ constructor
-        auto dm = py::module_::create_extension_module("dummy", nullptr, new py::module_::module_def);
+        auto dm = py::module_("dummy");
         auto failures = py::list();
 
         py::class_<Dupe1>(dm, "Dupe1");