diff --git a/c/dtypes.h b/c/dtypes.h
index f8e4c65..9e94d39 100644
--- a/c/dtypes.h
+++ b/c/dtypes.h
@@ -87,18 +87,9 @@
 #error "unknown platform"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef BOEHM_GC
-// boehm GC allocator
-#include <gc.h>
-#define LLT_ALLOC(n) GC_MALLOC(n)
-#define LLT_REALLOC(p, n) GC_REALLOC((p), (n))
-#define LLT_FREE(x) ((void)(x))
-#else
-// standard allocator
 #define LLT_ALLOC(n) malloc(n)
 #define LLT_REALLOC(p, n) realloc((p), (n))
 #define LLT_FREE(x) free(x)
-#endif
 
 typedef int bool_t;
 
diff --git a/c/flisp.c b/c/flisp.c
index d9b4f86..93b5ff6 100644
--- a/c/flisp.c
+++ b/c/flisp.c
@@ -2587,13 +2587,7 @@ value_t fl_toplevel_eval(value_t expr)
     return fl_applyn(1, symbol_value(evalsym), expr);
 }
 
-void fl_init(size_t initial_heapsize)
-{
-#ifdef BOEHM_GC
-    GC_init();
-#endif
-    lisp_init(initial_heapsize);
-}
+void fl_init(size_t initial_heapsize) { lisp_init(initial_heapsize); }
 
 int fl_load_system_image(value_t sys_image_iostream)
 {
diff --git a/c/iostream.c b/c/iostream.c
index 101ecb9..78cf4f9 100644
--- a/c/iostream.c
+++ b/c/iostream.c
@@ -376,9 +376,7 @@ value_t fl_ioreaduntil(value_t *args, u_int32_t nargs)
     if (dest.buf != data) {
         // outgrew initial space
         cv->data = dest.buf;
-#ifndef BOEHM_GC
         cv_autorelease(cv);
-#endif
     }
     ((char *)cv->data)[n] = '\0';
     if (n == 0 && ios_eof(src))
@@ -423,9 +421,7 @@ value_t stream_to_string(value_t *ps)
         n--;
         b[n] = '\0';
         str = cvalue_from_ref(stringtype, b, n, FL_NIL);
-#ifndef BOEHM_GC
         cv_autorelease((struct cvalue *)ptr(str));
-#endif
     }
     return str;
 }