diff --git a/Makefile.config.in b/Makefile.config.in
index f187c5fc7bf..fd17ad4ced6 100644
--- a/Makefile.config.in
+++ b/Makefile.config.in
@@ -152,8 +152,6 @@ PERL       := @PERL@
 BZIP2      := @BZIP2@
 DOT        := @DOT@
 DOXYGEN    := @DOXYGEN@
-ETAGS      := @ETAGS@
-ETAGSFLAGS := @ETAGSFLAGS@
 GROFF      := @GROFF@
 GZIP       := @GZIP@
 OCAMLC     := @OCAMLC@
diff --git a/autoconf/configure.ac b/autoconf/configure.ac
index 087f734452a..25cdfec4f31 100644
--- a/autoconf/configure.ac
+++ b/autoconf/configure.ac
@@ -551,15 +551,6 @@ if test "$lt_cv_dlopen_self" = "yes" ; then
               [Define if dlopen(0) will open the symbols of the program])
 fi
 
-dnl Check if we know how to tell etags we are using C++:
-etags_version=`$ETAGS --version 2>&1`
-case "$etags_version" in
-	*[Ee]xuberant*) ETAGSFLAGS="--language-force=c++" ;;
-	*GNU\ Emacs*) ETAGSFLAGS="-l c++" ;;
-	*) ETAGSFLAGS="" ;;
-esac
-AC_SUBST(ETAGSFLAGS,$ETAGSFLAGS)
-
 if test "$WITH_LLVMGCCDIR" = "default" ; then
   LLVMGCC="llvm-gcc${EXEEXT}"
   LLVMGXX="llvm-g++${EXEEXT}"
diff --git a/docs/GettingStarted.html b/docs/GettingStarted.html
index e2b07a68237..3327df160c6 100644
--- a/docs/GettingStarted.html
+++ b/docs/GettingStarted.html
@@ -469,7 +469,6 @@ href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">try to compile it</a> on your platform.</p>
     <li><b>date</b> - print the current date/time </li>
     <li><b>echo</b> - print to standard output</li>
     <li><b>egrep</b> - extended regular expression search utility</li>
-    <li><b>etags</b> - C/C++ tag file creator for vim/emacs</li>
     <li><b>find</b> - find files/dirs in a file system</li>
     <li><b>grep</b> - regular expression search utility</li>
     <li><b>gzip*</b> - gzip command for distribution generation</li>
diff --git a/docs/MakefileGuide.html b/docs/MakefileGuide.html
index 9cb5b15bfd7..7b4b7552c1d 100644
--- a/docs/MakefileGuide.html
+++ b/docs/MakefileGuide.html
@@ -808,11 +808,6 @@
     isn't one.</dd>
     <dt><a name="ECHO"><tt>ECHO</tt></a><small>(configured)</small></dt>
     <dd>Specifies the path to the <tt>echo</tt> tool for printing output.</dd>
-    <dt><a name="ETAGS"><tt>ETAGS</tt></a><small>(configured)</small></dt>
-    <dd>Specifies the path to the <tt>etags</tt> tool.</dd>
-    <dt><a name="ETAGSFLAGS"><tt>ETAGSFLAGS</tt></a><small>(configured)</small>
-    </dt>
-    <dd>Provides flags to be passed to the <tt>etags</tt> tool.</dd>
     <dt><a name="EXEEXT"><tt>EXEEXT</tt></a><small>(configured)</small></dt>
     <dd>Provides the extension to be used on executables built by the makefiles.
     The value may be empty on platforms that do not use file extensions for