diff --git a/include/bits/string2.h b/include/bits/string2.h
deleted file mode 100644
index e4c4c709b5..0000000000
--- a/include/bits/string2.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-#include <string/bits/string2.h>
diff --git a/include/string.h b/include/string.h
index ce71674086..f777d617c4 100644
--- a/include/string.h
+++ b/include/string.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ extern void *__memchr (const void *__s, int __c, size_t __n)
      __attribute_pure__;
 
 extern void __bzero (void *__s, size_t __n) __THROW __nonnull ((1));
+#define __bzero(s, n) __builtin_memset (s, '\0', n)
 
 extern int __ffs (int __i) __attribute__ ((const));
 
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ extern __typeof (strncasecmp_l) __strncasecmp_l;
 
 libc_hidden_proto (__mempcpy)
 libc_hidden_proto (__stpcpy)
+#define __stpcpy(dest, src) __builtin_stpcpy (dest, src)
 libc_hidden_proto (__stpncpy)
 libc_hidden_proto (__rawmemchr)
 libc_hidden_proto (__strcasecmp)
diff --git a/intl/dcigettext.c b/intl/dcigettext.c
index 3843b7cbdf..7ee0337284 100644
--- a/intl/dcigettext.c
+++ b/intl/dcigettext.c
@@ -1073,7 +1073,7 @@ _nl_find_msg (struct loaded_l10nfile *domain_file,
 	    domain->conversions = new_conversions;
 
 	    /* Copy the 'encoding' string to permanent storage.  */
-	    encoding = strdup (encoding);
+	    encoding = __strdup (encoding);
 	    if (__builtin_expect (encoding == NULL, 0))
 	      /* Nothing we can do, no more memory.  We cannot use the
 		 translation because it might be encoded incorrectly.  */
diff --git a/string/Makefile b/string/Makefile
index f317d02a8c..8a6322babb 100644
--- a/string/Makefile
+++ b/string/Makefile
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ subdir	:= string
 
 include ../Makeconfig
 
-headers	:= string.h strings.h memory.h endian.h bits/endian.h \
-	   argz.h envz.h byteswap.h bits/byteswap.h bits/byteswap-16.h \
-	   bits/string.h bits/string2.h bits/string3.h \
-	   bits/strings_fortified.h bits/uintn-identity.h
+headers := string.h strings.h memory.h argz.h envz.h byteswap.h		\
+	   endian.h bits/byteswap.h bits/byteswap-16.h bits/endian.h	\
+	   bits/string.h bits/string3.h bits/strings_fortified.h	\
+	   bits/uintn-identity.h
 
 routines	:= strcat strchr strcmp strcoll strcpy strcspn		\
 		   strverscmp strdup strndup				\
diff --git a/string/Versions b/string/Versions
index 9b709d12a9..25afed063a 100644
--- a/string/Versions
+++ b/string/Versions
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ libc {
     strcasestr; strverscmp;
   }
   GLIBC_2.1.1 {
-    # extern inline functions used by <bits/string2.h>
+    # extern inline functions formerly used in string.h
     __mempcpy_small; __stpcpy_small; __strcspn_c1; __strcspn_c2; __strcspn_c3;
     __strcpy_small; __strspn_c1; __strspn_c2; __strspn_c3; __strpbrk_c2;
     __strpbrk_c3; __strsep_1c; __strsep_2c; __strsep_3c; __strsep_g;
diff --git a/string/bits/string2.h b/string/bits/string2.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a26e2bc68..0000000000
--- a/string/bits/string2.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,119 +0,0 @@
-/* Machine-independant string function optimizations.
-   Copyright (C) 1997-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-   This file is part of the GNU C Library.
-   Contributed by Ulrich Drepper <drepper@cygnus.com>, 1997.
-
-   The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
-   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
-   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
-   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-
-   The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
-   Lesser General Public License for more details.
-
-   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
-   License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
-   <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
-
-#ifndef _STRING_H
-# error "Never use <bits/string2.h> directly; include <string.h> instead."
-#endif
-
-#ifndef __NO_STRING_INLINES
-
-/* Unlike the definitions in the header <bits/string.h> the
-   definitions contained here are not optimized down to assembler
-   level.  Those optimizations are not always a good idea since this
-   means the code size increases a lot.  Instead the definitions here
-   optimize some functions in a way which do not dramatically
-   increase the code size and which do not use assembler.  The main
-   trick is to use GCC's `__builtin_constant_p' function.
-
-   Every function XXX which has a defined version in
-   <bits/string.h> must be accompanied by a symbol _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_XXX
-   to make sure we don't get redefinitions.
-
-   We must use here macros instead of inline functions since the
-   trick won't work with the latter.  */
-
-#ifndef __STRING_INLINE
-# ifdef __cplusplus
-#  define __STRING_INLINE inline
-# else
-#  define __STRING_INLINE __extern_inline
-# endif
-#endif
-
-/* Dereferencing a pointer arg to run sizeof on it fails for the void
-   pointer case, so we use this instead.
-   Note that __x is evaluated twice. */
-#define __string2_1bptr_p(__x) \
-  ((size_t)(const void *)((__x) + 1) - (size_t)(const void *)(__x) == 1)
-
-/* Set N bytes of S to 0.  */
-#if !defined _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_memset
-# define __bzero(s, n) __builtin_memset (s, '\0', n)
-#endif
-
-
-/* Copy SRC to DEST, returning pointer to final NUL byte.  */
-#ifdef __USE_GNU
-# ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_stpcpy
-#  define __stpcpy(dest, src) __builtin_stpcpy (dest, src)
-/* In glibc we use this function frequently but for namespace reasons
-   we have to use the name `__stpcpy'.  */
-#  define stpcpy(dest, src) __stpcpy (dest, src)
-# endif
-#endif
-
-
-/* Copy no more than N characters of SRC to DEST.  */
-#ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_strncpy
-# define strncpy(dest, src, n) __builtin_strncpy (dest, src, n)
-#endif
-
-
-/* Append no more than N characters from SRC onto DEST.  */
-#ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_strncat
-# ifdef _USE_STRING_ARCH_strchr
-#  define strncat(dest, src, n) \
-  (__extension__ ({ char *__dest = (dest);				      \
-		    __builtin_constant_p (src) && __builtin_constant_p (n)    \
-		    ? (strlen (src) < ((size_t) (n))			      \
-		       ? strcat (__dest, src)				      \
-		       : (*((char *) __mempcpy (strchr (__dest, '\0'),	      \
-						src, n)) = '\0', __dest))     \
-		    : strncat (dest, src, n); }))
-# else
-#  define strncat(dest, src, n) __builtin_strncat (dest, src, n)
-# endif
-#endif
-
-
-/* Return the length of the initial segment of S which
-   consists entirely of characters not in REJECT.  */
-#ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_strcspn
-# define strcspn(s, reject) __builtin_strcspn (s, reject)
-#endif
-
-
-/* Return the length of the initial segment of S which
-   consists entirely of characters in ACCEPT.  */
-#ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_strspn
-# define strspn(s, accept) __builtin_strspn (s, accept)
-#endif
-
-
-/* Find the first occurrence in S of any character in ACCEPT.  */
-#ifndef _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_strpbrk
-# define strpbrk(s, accept) __builtin_strpbrk (s, accept)
-#endif
-
-
-#ifndef _FORCE_INLINES
-# undef __STRING_INLINE
-#endif
-
-#endif /* No string inlines.  */
diff --git a/string/string-inlines.c b/string/string-inlines.c
index fa4a1594b2..68aa7d072a 100644
--- a/string/string-inlines.c
+++ b/string/string-inlines.c
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 
 #undef __NO_INLINE__
 #include <bits/string.h>
-#include <bits/string2.h>
 
 #include "shlib-compat.h"
 
diff --git a/string/string.h b/string/string.h
index 8eed67d77d..ac872ff283 100644
--- a/string/string.h
+++ b/string/string.h
@@ -511,9 +511,6 @@ extern char *basename (const char *__filename) __THROW __nonnull ((1));
 
 /* Get the machine-dependent optimizations (if any).  */
 #  include <bits/string.h>
-
-/* These are generic optimizations which do not add too much inline code.  */
-#  include <bits/string2.h>
 # endif
 
 # if __USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 0 && defined __fortify_function
@@ -522,23 +519,6 @@ extern char *basename (const char *__filename) __THROW __nonnull ((1));
 # endif
 #endif
 
-#if defined __USE_GNU && defined __OPTIMIZE__ \
-    && defined __extern_always_inline && __GNUC_PREREQ (3,2)
-# if !defined _FORCE_INLINES && !defined _HAVE_STRING_ARCH_mempcpy
-
-#define mempcpy(dest, src, n) __mempcpy_inline (dest, src, n)
-#define __mempcpy(dest, src, n) __mempcpy_inline (dest, src, n)
-
-__extern_always_inline void *
-__mempcpy_inline (void *__restrict __dest,
-		  const void *__restrict __src, size_t __n)
-{
-  return (char *) memcpy (__dest, __src, __n) + __n;
-}
-
-# endif
-#endif
-
 __END_DECLS
 
 #endif /* string.h  */
