diff --git a/src/standard.c b/src/standard.c
index 289184765..02c1af6b7 100644
--- a/src/standard.c
+++ b/src/standard.c
@@ -4360,14 +4360,6 @@ int varint_bytes(uint64_t v)
 	return len;
 }
 
-/* do nothing, just a placeholder for debugging calls, the real one is in trace.c */
-#ifndef USE_OBSOLETE_LINKER
-__attribute__((weak,format(printf, 1, 2)))
-#endif
-void trace(char *msg, ...)
-{
-}
-
 /*
  * Local variables:
  *  c-indent-level: 8