diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/obj/link.go b/src/cmd/internal/obj/link.go
index 152a2acea00..cfe7c958cdd 100644
--- a/src/cmd/internal/obj/link.go
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/obj/link.go
@@ -716,7 +716,6 @@ const (
 	Hunknown = 0 + iota
 	Hdarwin
 	Hdragonfly
-	Helf
 	Hfreebsd
 	Hlinux
 	Hnacl
diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/obj/sym.go b/src/cmd/internal/obj/sym.go
index a723eb4689d..64df62a2ae5 100644
--- a/src/cmd/internal/obj/sym.go
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/obj/sym.go
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ var headers = []struct {
 }{
 	{"darwin", Hdarwin},
 	{"dragonfly", Hdragonfly},
-	{"elf", Helf},
 	{"freebsd", Hfreebsd},
 	{"linux", Hlinux},
 	{"android", Hlinux}, // must be after "linux" entry or else headstr(Hlinux) == "android"
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/asm.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/asm.go
index 274e246fbc1..d809f6e8ed2 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/asm.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/asm.go
@@ -671,8 +671,7 @@ func asmb() {
 		ld.Diag("unknown header type %d", ld.HEADTYPE)
 		fallthrough
 
-	case obj.Hplan9,
-		obj.Helf:
+	case obj.Hplan9:
 		break
 
 	case obj.Hdarwin:
@@ -702,8 +701,7 @@ func asmb() {
 		ld.Bso.Flush()
 		switch ld.HEADTYPE {
 		default:
-		case obj.Hplan9,
-			obj.Helf:
+		case obj.Hplan9:
 			ld.Debug['s'] = 1
 			symo = int64(ld.Segdata.Fileoff + ld.Segdata.Filelen)
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/obj.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/obj.go
index f5c2756fe71..f9e13f2e18c 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/obj.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/amd64/obj.go
@@ -136,19 +136,6 @@ func archinit() {
 			ld.INITRND = 0x200000
 		}
 
-	case obj.Helf: /* elf32 executable */
-		ld.HEADR = int32(ld.Rnd(52+3*32, 16))
-
-		if ld.INITTEXT == -1 {
-			ld.INITTEXT = 0x80110000
-		}
-		if ld.INITDAT == -1 {
-			ld.INITDAT = 0
-		}
-		if ld.INITRND == -1 {
-			ld.INITRND = 4096
-		}
-
 	case obj.Hdarwin: /* apple MACH */
 		ld.Machoinit()
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/sym.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/sym.go
index 486b8815200..3deb94644e6 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/sym.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/sym.go
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ var headers = []struct {
 }{
 	{"darwin", obj.Hdarwin},
 	{"dragonfly", obj.Hdragonfly},
-	{"elf", obj.Helf},
 	{"freebsd", obj.Hfreebsd},
 	{"linux", obj.Hlinux},
 	{"android", obj.Hlinux}, // must be after "linux" entry or else headstr(Hlinux) == "android"