diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/wscript b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
index 97b04c8970..48a47ab0f7 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/wscript
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
@@ -16,12 +16,6 @@ blddir = 'build'
 def set_options(opt):
 	autowaf.set_options(opt)
 
-def check_header_and_define(conf, header, define):
-	conf.check(header_name=header, define_name=define)
-	if conf.env[define]:
-		conf.env.append_value('CCFLAGS', '-D' + define)
-		conf.env.append_value('CXXFLAGS', '-D' + define)
-	
 def configure(conf):
 	autowaf.configure(conf)
 	autowaf.check_tool(conf, 'compiler_cxx')
@@ -37,9 +31,6 @@ def configure(conf):
 	
 	conf.check_tool('misc') # subst tool
 
-	check_header_and_define(conf, 'wordexp.h', 'HAVE_WORDEXP')
-	check_header_and_define(conf, 'sys/vfs.h', 'HAVE_SYS_VFS_H')
-
 	conf.env.append_value('CCFLAGS', '-D_REENTRANT -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE')
 	conf.env.append_value('CXXFLAGS', '-DENABLE_NLS')