diff --git a/meta/conf/documentation.conf b/meta/conf/documentation.conf
index 3f130120c0c..d16520a371a 100644
--- a/meta/conf/documentation.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/documentation.conf
@@ -317,7 +317,6 @@ PACKAGE_EXCLUDE[doc] = "Packages to exclude from the installation. If a listed p
 PACKAGE_EXTRA_ARCHS[doc] = "Specifies the list of architectures compatible with the device CPU. This variable is useful when you build for several different devices that use miscellaneous processors."
 PACKAGE_INSTALL[doc] = "List of the packages to be installed into the image. The variable is generally not user-defined and uses IMAGE_INSTALL as part of the list."
 PACKAGE_INSTALL_ATTEMPTONLY[doc] = "List of packages attempted to be installed. If a listed package fails to install, the build system does not generate an error. This variable is generally not user-defined."
-PACKAGE_SNAP_LIB_SYMLINKS[doc] = "Rename library files based on their SONAME to avoid an extra layer of indirection through a symlink. Only suitable for a read-only rootfs where libraries are not upgraded in place."
 PACKAGECONFIG[doc] = "This variable provides a means of enabling or disabling features of a recipe on a per-recipe basis."
 PACKAGES[doc] = "The list of packages to be created from the recipe."
 PACKAGES_DYNAMIC[doc] = "A promise that your recipe satisfies runtime dependencies for optional modules that are found in other recipes."
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/package.py b/meta/lib/oe/package.py
index 16359232ecd..1af10b7eb0e 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/package.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/package.py
@@ -1623,7 +1623,6 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
         needs_ldconfig = False
         needed = set()
         sonames = set()
-        renames = []
         ldir = os.path.dirname(file).replace(pkgdest + "/" + pkg, '')
         cmd = d.getVar('OBJDUMP') + " -p " + shlex.quote(file) + " 2>/dev/null"
         fd = os.popen(cmd)
@@ -1651,11 +1650,9 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
                         sonames.add(prov)
                 if libdir_re.match(os.path.dirname(file)):
                     needs_ldconfig = True
-                if needs_ldconfig and snap_symlinks and (os.path.basename(file) != this_soname):
-                    renames.append((file, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(file), this_soname)))
-        return (needs_ldconfig, needed, sonames, renames)
+        return (needs_ldconfig, needed, sonames)
 
-    def darwin_so(file, needed, sonames, renames, pkgver):
+    def darwin_so(file, needed, sonames, pkgver):
         if not os.path.exists(file):
             return
         ldir = os.path.dirname(file).replace(pkgdest + "/" + pkg, '')
@@ -1707,7 +1704,7 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
                 if name and name not in needed[pkg]:
                      needed[pkg].add((name, file, tuple()))
 
-    def mingw_dll(file, needed, sonames, renames, pkgver):
+    def mingw_dll(file, needed, sonames, pkgver):
         if not os.path.exists(file):
             return
 
@@ -1726,11 +1723,6 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
                     if dllname:
                         needed[pkg].add((dllname, file, tuple()))
 
-    if d.getVar('PACKAGE_SNAP_LIB_SYMLINKS') == "1":
-        snap_symlinks = True
-    else:
-        snap_symlinks = False
-
     needed = {}
 
     shlib_provider = oe.package.read_shlib_providers(d)
@@ -1749,16 +1741,15 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
 
         needed[pkg] = set()
         sonames = set()
-        renames = []
         linuxlist = []
         for file in pkgfiles[pkg]:
                 soname = None
                 if cpath.islink(file):
                     continue
                 if hostos.startswith("darwin"):
-                    darwin_so(file, needed, sonames, renames, pkgver)
+                    darwin_so(file, needed, sonames, pkgver)
                 elif hostos.startswith("mingw"):
-                    mingw_dll(file, needed, sonames, renames, pkgver)
+                    mingw_dll(file, needed, sonames, pkgver)
                 elif os.access(file, os.X_OK) or lib_re.match(file):
                     linuxlist.append(file)
 
@@ -1768,14 +1759,8 @@ def process_shlibs(pkgfiles, d):
                 ldconfig = r[0]
                 needed[pkg] |= r[1]
                 sonames |= r[2]
-                renames.extend(r[3])
                 needs_ldconfig = needs_ldconfig or ldconfig
 
-        for (old, new) in renames:
-            bb.note("Renaming %s to %s" % (old, new))
-            bb.utils.rename(old, new)
-            pkgfiles[pkg].remove(old)
-
         shlibs_file = os.path.join(shlibswork_dir, pkg + ".list")
         if len(sonames):
             with open(shlibs_file, 'w') as fd: