diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e67595c5d..2df950807 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -320,45 +320,6 @@ fi
 # features that Autoconf doesn't tell us about
 #
 
-
-#
-# Check if realpath accepts null for its second argument
-#
-
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([if realpath accepts null for its second argument])
-AC_RUN_IFELSE(
-  [
-    AC_LANG_PROGRAM(
-      [
-        #include <limits.h>
-        #include <errno.h>
-        #include <stdlib.h>
-      ],
-      [
-        int status;
-        char *res;
-        res = realpath( "somefile", 0 );
-        status = !(res != 0 || errno == ENOENT);
-        exit( status );
-      ]
-    )
-  ],
-  [have_realpath_null=yes],
-  [have_realpath_null=no]
-)
-
-if test "$have_realpath_null" = yes; then
-  AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
-  AC_DEFINE(
-    [HAVE_REALPATH_NULL],
-    [1],
-    [Define to 1 if realpath accepts null for its second argument.]
-  )
-else
-  AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
-fi
-
-
 #
 # Check if struct winsize and TIOCGWINSZ exist
 #
diff --git a/src/wutil.cpp b/src/wutil.cpp
index 27bd0c508..24069b398 100644
--- a/src/wutil.cpp
+++ b/src/wutil.cpp
@@ -332,8 +332,6 @@ void safe_perror(const char *message) {
     errno = err;
 }
 
-#ifdef HAVE_REALPATH_NULL
-
 wchar_t *wrealpath(const wcstring &pathname, wchar_t *resolved_path) {
     if (pathname.size() == 0) return NULL;
 
@@ -389,28 +387,6 @@ wchar_t *wrealpath(const wcstring &pathname, wchar_t *resolved_path) {
     return wcsdup(wreal_path.c_str());
 }
 
-#else
-
-wchar_t *wrealpath(const wcstring &pathname, wchar_t *resolved_path) {
-    cstring tmp = wcs2string(pathname);
-    char narrow_buff[PATH_MAX];
-    char *narrow_res = realpath(tmp.c_str(), narrow_buff);
-    wchar_t *res;
-
-    if (!narrow_res) return 0;
-
-    const wcstring wide_res = str2wcstring(narrow_res);
-    if (resolved_path) {
-        wcslcpy(resolved_path, wide_res.c_str(), PATH_MAX);
-        res = resolved_path;
-    } else {
-        res = wcsdup(wide_res.c_str());
-    }
-    return res;
-}
-
-#endif
-
 wcstring wdirname(const wcstring &path) {
     char *tmp = wcs2str(path.c_str());
     char *narrow_res = dirname(tmp);