diff --git a/bootstrap_sdk b/bootstrap_sdk
index 834506ee6d..0c636beda2 100755
--- a/bootstrap_sdk
+++ b/bootstrap_sdk
@@ -65,16 +65,7 @@ ROOT_OVERLAY=${TEMPDIR}/stage4_overlay
 if [[ "$STAGES" =~ stage4 ]]; then
     info "Setting release to ${FLATCAR_VERSION}"
     rm -rf "${ROOT_OVERLAY}"
-    # need to setup the lib->lib64 symlink correctly
-    libdir=$(get_sdk_libdir)
-    mkdir -p "${ROOT_OVERLAY}/usr/${libdir}"
-    if [[ "${libdir}" != lib ]]; then
-        if [[ "$(get_sdk_symlink_lib)" == "yes" ]]; then
-            ln -s "${libdir}" "${ROOT_OVERLAY}/usr/lib"
-        else
-            mkdir -p "${ROOT_OVERLAY}/usr/lib"
-        fi
-    fi
+    mkdir -p "${ROOT_OVERLAY}"
     "${BUILD_LIBRARY_DIR}/set_lsb_release" \
         --root "${ROOT_OVERLAY}"
 fi
diff --git a/build_library/set_lsb_release b/build_library/set_lsb_release
index 17d7c186e2..2323a0ae77 100755
--- a/build_library/set_lsb_release
+++ b/build_library/set_lsb_release
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ sudo ln -sf "../usr/share/flatcar/lsb-release" "${ROOT_FS_DIR}/etc/lsb-release"
 
 # And the new standard, os-release
 # https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html
+sudo mkdir -p "${ROOT_FS_DIR}/usr/lib"
 sudo_clobber "${ROOT_FS_DIR}/usr/lib/os-release" <<EOF
 NAME="$BRANDING_OS_NAME"
 ID="$BRANDING_OS_ID"
diff --git a/build_library/toolchain_util.sh b/build_library/toolchain_util.sh
index 8d86ff515c..1de32c5ed6 100644
--- a/build_library/toolchain_util.sh
+++ b/build_library/toolchain_util.sh
@@ -164,10 +164,6 @@ get_sdk_libdir() {
     portageq envvar "LIBDIR_$(get_sdk_arch)"
 }
 
-get_sdk_symlink_lib() {
-    portageq envvar "SYMLINK_LIB"
-}
-
 # Usage: get_sdk_binhost [version...]
 # If no versions are specified the current and SDK versions are used.
 get_sdk_binhost() {