diff --git a/common.config b/common.config
index 26906aa2..926846bf 100644
--- a/common.config
+++ b/common.config
@@ -230,30 +230,5 @@ if [ ! -z "$SCRATCH_MNT" -a ! -d "$SCRATCH_MNT" ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-_readlink()
-{
-    if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
-        echo "Usage: _readlink filename" 1>&2
-        exit 1
-    fi
-
-    perl -e "\$in=\"$1\";" -e '
-    $lnk = readlink($in);
-    if ($lnk =~ m!^/.*!) {
-        print "$lnk\n";
-    }
-    else {
-        chomp($dir = `dirname $in`);
-        print "$dir/$lnk\n";
-    }'
-}
-
-# if devfs is running expand the full /dev/.. pathname - this is what will be
-# returned by utilities such as mount
-[ -L "$TEST_DEV" ] && TEST_DEV=`_readlink $TEST_DEV`
-[ -L "$SCRATCH_DEV" ] && SCRATCH_DEV=`_readlink $SCRATCH_DEV`
-[ -L "$SCRATCH_LOGDEV" ] && SCRATCH_LOGDEV=`_readlink $SCRATCH_LOGDEV`
-[ -L "$SCRATCH_RTDEV" ] && SCRATCH_RTDEV=`_readlink $SCRATCH_LOGDEV`
-
 # make sure this script returns success
 /bin/true