diff --git a/m4/dune_all.m4 b/m4/dune_all.m4
index e3b9fd3308cbccd0eaa140895156d3105a18353d..174aeb7e972ba943a411862243c0fd709d3222e4 100644
--- a/m4/dune_all.m4
+++ b/m4/dune_all.m4
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 # dune-directory
 
 AC_DEFUN([DUNE_CHECK_ALL],[
-  # doxygen and latex take a lot of time...
-  AC_REQUIRE([DUNE_DOCUMENTATION])
   AC_REQUIRE([DUNE_WEB])
 
   AC_ARG_ENABLE(enabledist,
diff --git a/m4/dune_docu.m4 b/m4/dune_docu.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index fcacd67fb948189830a96a437450fda05d30ff19..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/m4/dune_docu.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-# searches for documentation 
-AC_DEFUN([DUNE_DOCUMENTATION],[
-
-  # if dist has been build without
-  # documentation then disable documentation 
-  # option by default 
-  DOCU_TAG_FILE="no-documentation.tag"
-  AS_IF([test -f "doc/$DOCU_TAG_FILE"],[
-    HAS_DOCUMENTATION="no"],[
-    # check whether option is chosen or not 
-    AS_IF([test "x$enable_documentation" != "xno"],[
-      HAS_DOCUMENTATION="yes"],[
-      HAS_DOCUMENTATION="no"
-    ])
-  ])
-  AC_SUBST(DOCUMENTATION_TAG_FILE, $DOCU_TAG_FILE )
-  AC_ARG_ENABLE(documentation,
-   AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-documentation],[don\'t generate docs, speeds up the build]))
-  AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_DOCS, [test "x$HAS_DOCUMENTATION" = "xyes"])
-])