diff --git a/sys/kern/vfs_cache.c b/sys/kern/vfs_cache.c
index 5a48a675d22a..0efdbc1d9604 100644
--- a/sys/kern/vfs_cache.c
+++ b/sys/kern/vfs_cache.c
@@ -129,8 +129,6 @@ static u_long	nchash;			/* size of hash table */
 SYSCTL_ULONG(_debug, OID_AUTO, nchash, CTLFLAG_RD, &nchash, 0,
     "Size of namecache hash table");
 static u_long	ncnegfactor = 16;	/* ratio of negative entries */
-/* _debug sysctl left for backward compatibility */
-SYSCTL_ULONG(_debug, OID_AUTO, ncnegfactor, CTLFLAG_RW, &ncnegfactor, 0, "");
 SYSCTL_ULONG(_vfs, OID_AUTO, ncnegfactor, CTLFLAG_RW, &ncnegfactor, 0,
     "Ratio of negative namecache entries");
 static u_long	numneg;			/* number of negative entries allocated */