diff --git a/src/lib9/_p9translate.c b/src/lib9/_p9translate.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 74df43c5..00000000
--- a/src/lib9/_p9translate.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-#include <u.h>
-#include <libc.h>
-
-/*
- * I don't want too many of these,
- * but the ones we have are just too useful.
- */
-static struct {
-	char *old;
-	char *new;
-} replace[] = {
-	"#9", nil,	/* must be first */
-	"#d", "/dev/fd",
-};
-
-char*
-plan9translate(char *old)
-{
-	char *new;
-	int i, olen, nlen, len;
-
-	if(replace[0].new == nil){
-		replace[0].new = getenv("PLAN9");
-		if(replace[0].new == nil)
-			replace[0].new = "/usr/local/plan9";
-	}
-
-	for(i=0; i<nelem(replace); i++){
-		if(!replace[i].new)
-			continue;
-		olen = strlen(replace[i].old);
-		if(strncmp(old, replace[i].old, olen) != 0
-		|| (old[olen] != '\0' && old[olen] != '/'))
-			continue;
-		nlen = strlen(replace[i].new);
-		len = strlen(old)+nlen-olen;
-		new = malloc(len+1);
-		if(new == nil)
-			return "<out of memory>";
-		strcpy(new, replace[i].new);
-		strcpy(new+nlen, old+olen);
-		assert(strlen(new) == len);
-		return new;
-	}
-	return old;
-}