diff --git a/cassandane/Cassandane/Instance.pm b/cassandane/Cassandane/Instance.pm
index da47518..53df2dd 100644
--- a/cassandane/Cassandane/Instance.pm
+++ b/cassandane/Cassandane/Instance.pm
@@ -2179,12 +2179,8 @@ sub setup_syslog_replacement
 {
     my ($self) = @_;
 
-    if (not(-e 'utils/syslog.so') || not(-e 'utils/syslog_probe')) {
-        xlog "utils/syslog.so not found (do you need to run 'make'?)";
-        xlog "tests will not examine syslog output";
-        $self->{have_syslog_replacement} = 0;
-        return;
-    }
+    $self->{have_syslog_replacement} = 0;
+    return;
 
     $self->{syslog_fname} = "$self->{basedir}/conf/log/syslog";
     $self->{have_syslog_replacement} = 1;
diff --git a/cassandane/Cassandane/Util/Log.pm b/cassandane/Cassandane/Util/Log.pm
index 2720801..73ae390 100644
--- a/cassandane/Cassandane/Util/Log.pm
+++ b/cassandane/Cassandane/Util/Log.pm
@@ -52,9 +52,6 @@ our @EXPORT = qw(
 
 my $verbose = 0;
 
-openlog('cassandane', '', LOG_LOCAL6)
-    or die "Cannot openlog";
-
 sub xlog
 {
     my $id;
@@ -89,7 +86,6 @@ sub xlog
     else {
         print STDERR "$msg\n";
     }
-    syslog(LOG_ERR, "$msg");
 }
 
 sub set_verbose