diff --git a/zOLD_common/debug.c b/zOLD_common/debug.c
deleted file mode 100644
index aa24e29f..00000000
--- a/zOLD_common/debug.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-// 13 may 2016
-#include "../ui.h"
-#include "uipriv.h"
-
-void uiprivDoImplBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *format, ...)
-{
-	va_list ap;
-
-	va_start(ap, format);
-	uiprivRealBug(file, line, func, "POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION BUG; CONTACT ANDLABS:\n", format, ap);
-	va_end(ap);
-}
-
-void uiprivDoUserBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *format, ...)
-{
-	va_list ap;
-
-	va_start(ap, format);
-	uiprivRealBug(file, line, func, "You have a bug: ", format, ap);
-	va_end(ap);
-}
diff --git a/zOLD_common/uipriv.h b/zOLD_common/uipriv.h
index 6441ada5..3c5f8a3e 100644
--- a/zOLD_common/uipriv.h
+++ b/zOLD_common/uipriv.h
@@ -12,28 +12,6 @@ extern "C" {
 // OS-specific init.* or main.* files
 extern uiInitOptions uiprivOptions;
 
-// OS-specific alloc.* files
-extern void *uiprivAlloc(size_t, const char *);
-#define uiprivNew(T) ((T *) uiprivAlloc(sizeof (T), #T))
-extern void *uiprivRealloc(void *, size_t, const char *);
-extern void uiprivFree(void *);
-
-// debug.c and OS-specific debug.* files
-// TODO get rid of this mess...
-// ugh, __func__ was only introduced in MSVC 2015...
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#define uiprivMacro__func__ __FUNCTION__
-#else
-#define uiprivMacro__func__ __func__
-#endif
-extern void uiprivRealBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *prefix, const char *format, va_list ap);
-#define uiprivMacro_ns2(s) #s
-#define uiprivMacro_ns(s) uiprivMacro_ns2(s)
-extern void uiprivDoImplBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *format, ...);
-#define uiprivImplBug(...) uiprivDoImplBug(__FILE__, uiprivMacro_ns(__LINE__), uiprivMacro__func__, __VA_ARGS__)
-extern void uiprivDoUserBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *format, ...);
-#define uiprivUserBug(...) uiprivDoUserBug(__FILE__, uiprivMacro_ns(__LINE__), uiprivMacro__func__, __VA_ARGS__)
-
 // shouldquit.c
 extern int uiprivShouldQuit(void);
 
diff --git a/zOLD_darwin/debug.m b/zOLD_darwin/debug.m
deleted file mode 100644
index aff66e0d..00000000
--- a/zOLD_darwin/debug.m
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-// 13 may 2016
-#import "uipriv_darwin.h"
-
-// LONGTERM don't halt on release builds
-
-void uiprivRealBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *prefix, const char *format, va_list ap)
-{
-	NSMutableString *str;
-	NSString *formatted;
-
-	str = [NSMutableString new];
-	[str appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"[libui] %s:%s:%s() %s", file, line, func, prefix]];
-	formatted = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:format] arguments:ap];
-	[str appendString:formatted];
-	[formatted release];
-	NSLog(@"%@", str);
-	[str release];
-	__builtin_trap();
-}
diff --git a/zOLD_unix/debug.c b/zOLD_unix/debug.c
deleted file mode 100644
index fd97c9ed..00000000
--- a/zOLD_unix/debug.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-// 13 may 2016
-#include "uipriv_unix.h"
-
-// LONGTERM don't halt on release builds
-
-void uiprivRealBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *prefix, const char *format, va_list ap)
-{
-	char *a, *b;
-
-	a = g_strdup_printf("[libui] %s:%s:%s() %s", file, line, func, prefix);
-	b = g_strdup_vprintf(format, ap);
-	g_critical("%s%s", a, b);
-	G_BREAKPOINT();
-}
diff --git a/zOLD_windows/debug.cpp b/zOLD_windows/debug.cpp
deleted file mode 100644
index 107b53ab..00000000
--- a/zOLD_windows/debug.cpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
-// 25 february 2015
-#include "uipriv_windows.hpp"
-
-// LONGTERM disable logging and stopping on no-debug builds
-
-static void printDebug(const WCHAR *msg)
-{
-	OutputDebugStringW(msg);
-}
-
-HRESULT _logLastError(debugargs, const WCHAR *s)
-{
-	DWORD le;
-	WCHAR *msg;
-	WCHAR *formatted;
-	BOOL useFormatted;
-
-	le = GetLastError();
-
-	useFormatted = FormatMessageW(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS, NULL, le, 0, (LPWSTR) (&formatted), 0, NULL) != 0;
-	if (!useFormatted)
-		formatted = (WCHAR *) L"\n";		// TODO
-	msg = strf(L"[libui] %s:%s:%s() %s: GetLastError() == %I32u %s",
-		file, line, func,
-		s, le, formatted);
-	if (useFormatted)
-		LocalFree(formatted);		// ignore error
-	printDebug(msg);
-	uiprivFree(msg);
-	DebugBreak();
-
-	SetLastError(le);
-	// a function does not have to set a last error
-	// if the last error we get is actually 0, then HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(0) will return S_OK (0 cast to an HRESULT, since 0 <= 0), which we don't want
-	// prevent this by returning E_FAIL
-	if (le == 0)
-		return E_FAIL;
-	return HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(le);
-}
-
-HRESULT _logHRESULT(debugargs, const WCHAR *s, HRESULT hr)
-{
-	WCHAR *msg;
-	WCHAR *formatted;
-	BOOL useFormatted;
-
-	useFormatted = FormatMessageW(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS, NULL, hr, 0, (LPWSTR) (&formatted), 0, NULL) != 0;
-	if (!useFormatted)
-		formatted = (WCHAR *) L"\n";			// TODO
-	msg = strf(L"[libui] %s:%s:%s() %s: HRESULT == 0x%08I32X %s",
-		file, line, func,
-		s, hr, formatted);
-	if (useFormatted)
-		LocalFree(formatted);		// ignore error
-	printDebug(msg);
-	uiprivFree(msg);
-	DebugBreak();
-
-	return hr;
-}
-
-void uiprivRealBug(const char *file, const char *line, const char *func, const char *prefix, const char *format, va_list ap)
-{
-	va_list ap2;
-	char *msg;
-	size_t n;
-	WCHAR *final;
-
-	va_copy(ap2, ap);
-	n = _vscprintf(format, ap2);
-	va_end(ap2);
-	n++;		// terminating '\0'
-
-	msg = (char *) uiprivAlloc(n * sizeof (char), "char[]");
-	// includes terminating '\0' according to example in https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xa1a1a6z.aspx
-	vsprintf_s(msg, n, format, ap);
-
-	final = strf(L"[libui] %hs:%hs:%hs() %hs%hs\n", file, line, func, prefix, msg);
-	uiprivFree(msg);
-	printDebug(final);
-	uiprivFree(final);
-
-	DebugBreak();
-}
diff --git a/zOLD_windows/uipriv_windows.hpp b/zOLD_windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
index 52d74c51..7614223c 100644
--- a/zOLD_windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
+++ b/zOLD_windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
@@ -41,28 +41,6 @@ extern void CRLFtoLF(char *s);
 extern WCHAR *ftoutf16(double d);
 extern WCHAR *itoutf16(int i);
 
-// debug.cpp
-// see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14421656/is-there-widely-available-wide-character-variant-of-file
-// we turn __LINE__ into a string because PRIiMAX can't be converted to a wide string in MSVC (it seems to be defined as "ll" "i" according to the compiler errors)
-// also note the use of __FUNCTION__ here; __func__ doesn't seem to work for some reason
-#define _ws2(m) L ## m
-#define _ws(m) _ws2(m)
-#define _ws2n(m) L ## #m
-#define _wsn(m) _ws2n(m)
-#define debugargs const WCHAR *file, const WCHAR *line, const WCHAR *func
-extern HRESULT _logLastError(debugargs, const WCHAR *s);
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#define logLastError(s) _logLastError(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), _ws(__FUNCTION__), s)
-#else
-#define logLastError(s) _logLastError(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), L"TODO none of the function name macros are macros in MinGW", s)
-#endif
-extern HRESULT _logHRESULT(debugargs, const WCHAR *s, HRESULT hr);
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#define logHRESULT(s, hr) _logHRESULT(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), _ws(__FUNCTION__), s, hr)
-#else
-#define logHRESULT(s, hr) _logHRESULT(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), L"TODO none of the function name macros are macros in MinGW", s, hr)
-#endif
-
 // winutil.cpp
 extern int windowClassOf(HWND hwnd, ...);
 extern void mapWindowRect(HWND from, HWND to, RECT *r);