diff --git a/nc_cxx.cmake b/nc_cxx.cmake
index b41d1a7..1b782a3 100644
--- a/nc_cxx.cmake
+++ b/nc_cxx.cmake
@@ -33,39 +33,6 @@ append_compile_flag ("/std:c++latest")
 # libstdc++ headers don't behave well under c++17/clang.
 append_compile_flag ("-stdlib=libc++")
 
-###############################################################################
-# find the gcc or clang filesystem library and append to libs if needed
-#
-# note, we specifically _cannot_ use find_library because it just makes wild
-# hardcoded guess and doesn't respect _all_ the system paths; specifically
-# something like /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/6.3.0/libstdc++.so won't get
-# discovered.
-if (NOT DEFINED __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
-    foreach(lib "" "c++fs" "c++experimental" "stdc++fs")
-        if (NOT __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
-            message (STATUS "Trying c++fs library '${lib}'")
-            try_compile(
-                __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
-            SOURCES
-                ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/nc_cxx_stdcxxfs.cpp
-            LINK_LIBRARIES
-                ${lib})
-
-            if (__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
-                set (__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs "${lib}" CACHE INTERNAL "library required for c++ filesystem")
-            endif ()
-        endif ()
-    endforeach()
-
-    if (NOT __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
-        message (FATAL_ERROR "Could not locate the required c++fs library")
-    endif ()
-
-    message (STATUS "Using c++fs library ${__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs}")
-endif ()
-
-set(NC_CXX_STDCXXFS ${__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs})
-
 
 ###############################################################################
 test_restrict(RESTRICT_KEYWORD)