diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
index 9521dc6c..134024b8 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
@@ -245,16 +245,7 @@ commit_loose_regfile_object (OstreeRepo        *self,
                              GCancellable      *cancellable,
                              GError           **error)
 {
-  /* We may be writing as root to a non-root-owned repository; if so,
-   * automatically inherit the non-root ownership.
-   */
-  if (self->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_ARCHIVE
-      && self->target_owner_uid != -1)
-    {
-      if (fchown (tmpf->fd, self->target_owner_uid, self->target_owner_gid) < 0)
-        return glnx_throw_errno_prefix (error, "fchown");
-    }
-  else if (self->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_BARE)
+  if (self->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_BARE)
     {
       if (TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY (fchown (tmpf->fd, uid, gid)) < 0)
         return glnx_throw_errno_prefix (error, "fchown");
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
index 3cc4aba0..ad1269b3 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
@@ -149,8 +149,6 @@ struct OstreeRepo {
   dev_t device;
   ino_t inode;
   uid_t owner_uid; /* Cache of repo's owner uid */
-  uid_t target_owner_uid; /* Ensure files are chowned to this uid/gid */
-  gid_t target_owner_gid;
   guint min_free_space_percent; /* See the min-free-space-percent config option */
   guint64 min_free_space_mb; /* See the min-free-space-size config option */
   guint64 reserved_blocks;
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 73ee027c..857b2d4c 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -3080,16 +3080,6 @@ ostree_repo_open (OstreeRepo    *self,
     return FALSE;
   self->owner_uid = stbuf.st_uid;
 
-  if (stbuf.st_uid != getuid () || stbuf.st_gid != getgid ())
-    {
-      self->target_owner_uid = stbuf.st_uid;
-      self->target_owner_gid = stbuf.st_gid;
-    }
-  else
-    {
-      self->target_owner_uid = self->target_owner_gid = -1;
-    }
-
   if (self->writable)
     {
       /* Always try to recreate the tmpdir to be nice to people