diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index c8a12543..bfb9fb37 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -2770,8 +2770,18 @@ ostree_repo_load_file (OstreeRepo         *self,
               g_autoptr(GBytes) bytes = NULL;
               glnx_fd_close int fd = -1;
 
-              bytes = ot_lgetxattrat (self->objects_dir_fd, loose_path_buf,
-                                      "user.ostreemeta", error);
+              /* In bare-user, symlinks are stored as regular files, so we just
+               * always do an open, then query the user.ostreemeta xattr for
+               * more information.
+               */
+              fd = openat (self->objects_dir_fd, loose_path_buf, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
+              if (fd < 0)
+                {
+                  glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
+                  goto out;
+                }
+
+              bytes = glnx_fgetxattr_bytes (fd, "user.ostreemeta", error);
               if (bytes == NULL)
                 goto out;
 
@@ -2783,21 +2793,6 @@ ostree_repo_load_file (OstreeRepo         *self,
 
               mode = g_file_info_get_attribute_uint32 (ret_file_info, "unix::mode");
 
-              /* Optimize this so that we only open the file if we
-               * need to; symlinks contain their content, and we only
-               * open regular files if the caller has requested an
-               * input stream.
-               */
-              if (S_ISLNK (mode) || out_input)
-                { 
-                  fd = openat (self->objects_dir_fd, loose_path_buf, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
-                  if (fd < 0)
-                    {
-                      glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
-                      goto out;
-                    }
-                }
-
               if (S_ISREG (mode) && out_input)
                 {
                   g_assert (fd != -1);
diff --git a/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.c b/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.c
index a0a72ca5..4ecf820b 100644
--- a/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.c
+++ b/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.c
@@ -61,72 +61,6 @@ ot_gopendirat (int             dfd,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-GBytes *
-ot_lgetxattrat (int            dfd,
-                const char    *path,
-                const char    *attribute,
-                GError       **error)
-{
-  /* A workaround for the lack of lgetxattrat(), thanks to Florian Weimer:
-   * https://mail.gnome.org/archives/ostree-list/2014-February/msg00017.html
-   */
-  g_autofree char *full_path = g_strdup_printf ("/proc/self/fd/%d/%s", dfd, path);
-  GBytes *bytes = NULL;
-  ssize_t bytes_read, real_size;
-  char *buf;
-
-  do
-    bytes_read = lgetxattr (full_path, attribute, NULL, 0);
-  while (G_UNLIKELY (bytes_read < 0 && errno == EINTR));
-  if (G_UNLIKELY (bytes_read < 0))
-    {
-      glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
-      goto out;
-    }
-
-  buf = g_malloc (bytes_read);
-  do
-    real_size = lgetxattr (full_path, attribute, buf, bytes_read);
-  while (G_UNLIKELY (real_size < 0 && errno == EINTR));
-  if (G_UNLIKELY (real_size < 0))
-    {
-      glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
-      g_free (buf);
-      goto out;
-    }
-
-  bytes = g_bytes_new_take (buf, real_size);
- out:
-  return bytes;
-}
-
-gboolean
-ot_lsetxattrat (int            dfd,
-                const char    *path,
-                const char    *attribute,
-                const void    *value,
-                gsize          value_size,
-                int            flags,
-                GError       **error)
-{
-  /* A workaround for the lack of lsetxattrat(), thanks to Florian Weimer:
-   * https://mail.gnome.org/archives/ostree-list/2014-February/msg00017.html
-   */
-  g_autofree char *full_path = g_strdup_printf ("/proc/self/fd/%d/%s", dfd, path);
-  int res;
-
-  do
-    res = lsetxattr (full_path, "user.ostreemeta", value, value_size, flags);
-  while (G_UNLIKELY (res == -1 && errno == EINTR));
-  if (G_UNLIKELY (res == -1))
-    {
-      glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
-      return FALSE;
-    }
-
-  return TRUE;
-}
-
 gboolean
 ot_readlinkat_gfile_info (int             dfd,
                           const char     *path,
diff --git a/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.h b/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.h
index 13909c8e..edf8b29a 100644
--- a/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.h
+++ b/src/libotutil/ot-fs-utils.h
@@ -33,19 +33,6 @@ gboolean ot_gopendirat (int             dfd,
                         int            *out_fd,
                         GError        **error);
 
-GBytes * ot_lgetxattrat (int            dfd,
-                         const char    *path,
-                         const char    *attribute,
-                         GError       **error);
-
-gboolean ot_lsetxattrat (int            dfd,
-                         const char    *path,
-                         const char    *attribute,
-                         const void    *value,
-                         gsize          value_size,
-                         int            flags,
-                         GError       **error);
-
 gboolean ot_readlinkat_gfile_info (int             dfd,
                                    const char     *path,
                                    GFileInfo      *target_info,