diff --git a/Annex/Action.hs b/Annex/Action.hs
index b3ad1d9088..1902b0d89c 100644
--- a/Annex/Action.hs
+++ b/Annex/Action.hs
@@ -5,20 +5,13 @@
  - Licensed under the GNU AGPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
 
-{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
-
 module Annex.Action (
 	startup,
 	shutdown,
 	stopCoProcesses,
-	reapZombies,
 ) where
 
 import qualified Data.Map as M
-#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
-import System.Posix.Process (getAnyProcessStatus)
-import Utility.Exception
-#endif
 
 import Annex.Common
 import qualified Annex
@@ -38,7 +31,6 @@ shutdown nocommit = do
 	saveState nocommit
 	sequence_ =<< M.elems <$> Annex.getState Annex.cleanup
 	stopCoProcesses
-	liftIO reapZombies -- zombies from long-running git processes
 
 {- Stops all long-running git query processes. -}
 stopCoProcesses :: Annex ()
@@ -47,19 +39,3 @@ stopCoProcesses = do
 	checkAttrStop
 	hashObjectStop
 	checkIgnoreStop
-
-{- Reaps any zombie processes that may be hanging around.
- -
- - Warning: Not thread safe. Anything that was expecting to wait
- - on a process and get back an exit status is going to be confused
- - if this reap gets there first. -}
-reapZombies :: IO ()
-#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
-reapZombies =
-	-- throws an exception when there are no child processes
-	catchDefaultIO Nothing (getAnyProcessStatus False True)
-		>>= maybe (return ()) (const reapZombies)
-
-#else
-reapZombies = return ()
-#endif
diff --git a/Benchmark.hs b/Benchmark.hs
index c365f0530e..4f191b501e 100644
--- a/Benchmark.hs
+++ b/Benchmark.hs
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import CmdLine
 import CmdLine.GitAnnex.Options
 import qualified Annex
 import qualified Annex.Branch
-import Annex.Action
 
 import qualified Options.Applicative as O
 
@@ -35,10 +34,6 @@ mkGenerator cmds userinput = do
 			-- The cmd is run for benchmarking without startup or
 			-- shutdown actions.
 			Annex.eval st $ performCommandAction cmd seek noop
-		-- Since the cmd will be run many times, some zombie
-		-- processes that normally only occur once per command
-		-- will build up; reap them.
-		reapZombies
   where
 	-- Simplified versio of CmdLine.dispatch, without support for fuzzy
 	-- matching or out-of-repo commands.
diff --git a/Test/Framework.hs b/Test/Framework.hs
index 79737b5481..ce7f482d06 100644
--- a/Test/Framework.hs
+++ b/Test/Framework.hs
@@ -245,15 +245,13 @@ cleanup dir = whenM (doesDirectoryExist dir) $ do
 
 finalCleanup :: IO ()
 finalCleanup = whenM (doesDirectoryExist tmpdir) $ do
-	Annex.Action.reapZombies
 	Command.Uninit.prepareRemoveAnnexDir' tmpdir
 	catchIO (removeDirectoryForCleanup tmpdir) $ \e -> do
 		print e
 		putStrLn "sleeping 10 seconds and will retry directory cleanup"
 		Utility.ThreadScheduler.threadDelaySeconds $
 			Utility.ThreadScheduler.Seconds 10
-		whenM (doesDirectoryExist tmpdir) $ do
-			Annex.Action.reapZombies
+		whenM (doesDirectoryExist tmpdir) $
 			removeDirectoryForCleanup tmpdir
 
 checklink :: FilePath -> Assertion