diff --git a/config/kernel-bio-empty-barrier.m4 b/config/kernel-bio-empty-barrier.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index fda16b3abf85..000000000000
--- a/config/kernel-bio-empty-barrier.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-dnl #
-dnl # 2.6.24 API change
-dnl # Empty write barriers are now supported and we should use them.
-dnl #
-AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BIO_EMPTY_BARRIER], [
-	AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether bio_empty_barrier() is defined])
-	ZFS_LINUX_TRY_COMPILE([
-		#include <linux/bio.h>
-	],[
-		struct bio bio;
-		(void)bio_empty_barrier(&bio);
-	],[
-		AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
-		AC_DEFINE(HAVE_BIO_EMPTY_BARRIER, 1,
-		          [bio_empy_barrier() is defined])
-	],[
-		AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
-	])
-])
diff --git a/config/kernel.m4 b/config/kernel.m4
index 5623785fb3ac..9d5aa462152c 100644
--- a/config/kernel.m4
+++ b/config/kernel.m4
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_CONFIG_KERNEL], [
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_INVALIDATE_BDEV_ARGS
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BDEV_LOGICAL_BLOCK_SIZE
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BDEV_PHYSICAL_BLOCK_SIZE
-	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BIO_EMPTY_BARRIER
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BIO_FAILFAST
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_BIO_FAILFAST_DTD
 	ZFS_AC_KERNEL_REQ_FAILFAST_MASK
diff --git a/module/zfs/vdev_disk.c b/module/zfs/vdev_disk.c
index cbf0a4d4fb08..e902a70e19db 100644
--- a/module/zfs/vdev_disk.c
+++ b/module/zfs/vdev_disk.c
@@ -604,8 +604,6 @@ vdev_disk_physio(struct block_device *bdev, caddr_t kbuf,
 	return __vdev_disk_physio(bdev, NULL, kbuf, size, offset, flags);
 }
 
-/* 2.6.24 API change */
-#ifdef HAVE_BIO_EMPTY_BARRIER
 BIO_END_IO_PROTO(vdev_disk_io_flush_completion, bio, size, rc)
 {
 	zio_t *zio = bio->bi_private;
@@ -646,13 +644,6 @@ vdev_disk_io_flush(struct block_device *bdev, zio_t *zio)
 
 	return 0;
 }
-#else
-static int
-vdev_disk_io_flush(struct block_device *bdev, zio_t *zio)
-{
-	return ENOTSUP;
-}
-#endif /* HAVE_BIO_EMPTY_BARRIER */
 
 static int
 vdev_disk_io_start(zio_t *zio)