diff --git a/bootstrap.conf b/bootstrap.conf
index 9ca1e6ddd7..09dcf78007 100644
--- a/bootstrap.conf
+++ b/bootstrap.conf
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 gnulib_modules='
 accept
 areadlink
-autobuild
 base64
 bind
 bitrotate
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5269db425c..40e93e251e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -123,12 +123,6 @@ AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_CPP
 
-dnl Setting AB_VERSION makes the 'autobuild' lines of configure output
-dnl slightly more useful
-if test -d $srcdir/.git && git --version >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-  AB_VERSION=`cd $srcdir && git describe --match 'v[[0-9]]*' 2>/dev/null`
-fi
-
 dnl autoconf 2.70 adds a --runstatedir option so that downstreams
 dnl can point to /run instead of the historic /var/run, but
 dnl autoconf hasn't had a release since 2012.