diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 55e6191cfa..00c1d495d4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -89,10 +89,6 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/mount.h], [], [],
 ])
 
 
-# Check for vfork.
-#AC_FUNC_FORK()
-
-
 # Check for lutimes, optionally used for changing the mtime of
 # symlinks.
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([lutimes])
diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index f38cd29940..70a3effb23 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ HookInstance::HookInstance()
     builderOut.create();
 
     /* Fork the hook. */
-    pid = maybeVfork();
+    pid = fork();
     switch (pid) {
 
     case -1:
@@ -2781,7 +2781,7 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::tryToRun()
     const char * * argArr = strings2CharPtrs(args);
 
     /* Fork the substitute program. */
-    pid = maybeVfork();
+    pid = fork();
 
     switch (pid) {
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
index 5d210ae017..08ab269b3a 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
@@ -1083,7 +1083,7 @@ void LocalStore::startSubstituter(const Path & substituter, RunningSubstituter &
 
     setSubstituterEnv();
 
-    run.pid = maybeVfork();
+    run.pid = fork();
 
     switch (run.pid) {
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 8fc78b1463..5f6203bc28 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ string runProgram(Path program, bool searchPath, const Strings & args)
 
     /* Fork. */
     Pid pid;
-    pid = maybeVfork();
+    pid = fork();
 
     switch (pid) {
 
@@ -928,13 +928,6 @@ void closeOnExec(int fd)
 }
 
 
-#if HAVE_VFORK
-pid_t (*maybeVfork)() = vfork;
-#else
-pid_t (*maybeVfork)() = fork;
-#endif
-
-
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index 1e9ffcf51b..07c027a1f9 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -266,9 +266,6 @@ void closeMostFDs(const set<int> & exceptions);
 /* Set the close-on-exec flag for the given file descriptor. */
 void closeOnExec(int fd);
 
-/* Call vfork() if available, otherwise fork(). */
-extern pid_t (*maybeVfork)();
-
 
 /* User interruption. */