diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 95d7c9f834..59d9bc380e 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1550,7 +1550,6 @@ virCgroupNewSelf;
 virCgroupNewThread;
 virCgroupPathOfController;
 virCgroupRemove;
-virCgroupRemoveRecursively;
 virCgroupSetBlkioDeviceReadBps;
 virCgroupSetBlkioDeviceReadIops;
 virCgroupSetBlkioDeviceWeight;
diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.c b/src/util/vircgroup.c
index 8ef6fb5e1a..7d8bf3419a 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.c
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.c
@@ -3312,7 +3312,7 @@ virCgroupGetCpuacctPercpuUsage(virCgroupPtr group, char **usage)
 }
 
 
-int
+static int
 virCgroupRemoveRecursively(char *grppath)
 {
     DIR *grpdir;
@@ -4529,15 +4529,6 @@ virCgroupSetCpuCfsQuota(virCgroupPtr group ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
 }
 
 
-int
-virCgroupRemoveRecursively(char *grppath ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
-{
-    virReportSystemError(ENXIO, "%s",
-                         _("Control groups not supported on this platform"));
-    return -1;
-}
-
-
 int
 virCgroupRemove(virCgroupPtr group ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.h b/src/util/vircgroup.h
index 74c7dbcccc..138bb3c076 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.h
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.h
@@ -273,7 +273,6 @@ int virCgroupGetCpusetMemoryMigrate(virCgroupPtr group, bool *migrate);
 int virCgroupSetCpusetCpus(virCgroupPtr group, const char *cpus);
 int virCgroupGetCpusetCpus(virCgroupPtr group, char **cpus);
 
-int virCgroupRemoveRecursively(char *grppath);
 int virCgroupRemove(virCgroupPtr group);
 
 int virCgroupKillRecursive(virCgroupPtr group, int signum);