diff --git a/config/opal_configure_options.m4 b/config/opal_configure_options.m4
index 43fcaf3469..47c2e0c597 100644
--- a/config/opal_configure_options.m4
+++ b/config/opal_configure_options.m4
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ dnl Copyright (c) 2004-2005 High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart,
 dnl                         University of Stuttgart.  All rights reserved.
 dnl Copyright (c) 2004-2005 The Regents of the University of California.
 dnl                         All rights reserved.
-dnl Copyright (c) 2006-2017 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved
+dnl Copyright (c) 2006-2020 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved
 dnl Copyright (c) 2007      Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
 dnl Copyright (c) 2009      IBM Corporation.  All rights reserved.
 dnl Copyright (c) 2009      Los Alamos National Security, LLC.  All rights
@@ -535,9 +535,4 @@ dnl some point, this should die.
 AC_DEFINE([OPAL_ENABLE_PROGRESS_THREADS],
           [0],
           [Whether we want BTL progress threads enabled])
-
-dnl Check for zlib support
-OPAL_ZLIB_CONFIG
-
-
 ])dnl
diff --git a/config/opal_setup_zlib.m4 b/config/opal_setup_zlib.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index 55fc55d54b..0000000000
--- a/config/opal_setup_zlib.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,90 +0,0 @@
-# -*- shell-script -*-
-#
-# Copyright (c) 2009-2015 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
-# Copyright (c) 2013      Los Alamos National Security, LLC.  All rights reserved.
-# Copyright (c) 2013-2017 Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
-# Copyright (c) 2017      Research Organization for Information Science
-#                         and Technology (RIST). All rights reserved.
-# $COPYRIGHT$
-#
-# Additional copyrights may follow
-#
-# $HEADER$
-#
-
-# MCA_zlib_CONFIG([action-if-found], [action-if-not-found])
-# --------------------------------------------------------------------
-AC_DEFUN([OPAL_ZLIB_CONFIG],[
-    OPAL_VAR_SCOPE_PUSH([opal_zlib_dir opal_zlib_libdir opal_zlib_standard_header_location opal_zlib_standard_lib_location])
-
-    AC_ARG_WITH([zlib],
-                [AC_HELP_STRING([--with-zlib=DIR],
-                                [Search for zlib headers and libraries in DIR ])])
-
-    AC_ARG_WITH([zlib-libdir],
-                [AC_HELP_STRING([--with-zlib-libdir=DIR],
-                                [Search for zlib libraries in DIR ])])
-
-    opal_zlib_support=0
-    if test "$with_zlib" != "no"; then
-        AC_MSG_CHECKING([for zlib in])
-        if test ! -z "$with_zlib" && test "$with_zlib" != "yes"; then
-            opal_zlib_dir=$with_zlib
-            opal_zlib_standard_header_location=no
-            opal_zlib_standard_lib_location=no
-            AS_IF([test -z "$with_zlib_libdir" || test "$with_zlib_libdir" = "yes"],
-                  [if test -d $with_zlib/lib; then
-                       opal_zlib_libdir=$with_zlib/lib
-                   elif test -d $with_zlib/lib64; then
-                       opal_zlib_libdir=$with_zlib/lib64
-                   else
-                       AC_MSG_RESULT([Could not find $with_zlib/lib or $with_zlib/lib64])
-                       AC_MSG_ERROR([Can not continue])
-                   fi
-                   AC_MSG_RESULT([$opal_zlib_dir and $opal_zlib_libdir])],
-                  [AC_MSG_RESULT([$with_zlib_libdir])])
-        else
-            AC_MSG_RESULT([(default search paths)])
-            opal_zlib_standard_header_location=yes
-            opal_zlib_standard_lib_location=yes
-        fi
-        AS_IF([test ! -z "$with_zlib_libdir" && test "$with_zlib_libdir" != "yes"],
-              [opal_zlib_libdir="$with_zlib_libdir"
-               opal_zlib_standard_lib_location=no])
-
-        OPAL_CHECK_PACKAGE([opal_zlib],
-                           [zlib.h],
-                           [z],
-                           [deflate],
-                           [-lz],
-                           [$opal_zlib_dir],
-                           [$opal_zlib_libdir],
-                           [opal_zlib_support=1],
-                           [opal_zlib_support=0])
-        if test $opal_zlib_support = "1"; then
-            LIBS="$LIBS -lz"
-            if test "$opal_zlib_standard_header_location" != "yes"; then
-                CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS $opal_zlib_CPPFLAGS"
-            fi
-            if test "$opal_zlib_standard_lib_location" != "yes"; then
-                LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS $opal_zlib_LDFLAGS"
-            fi
-        fi
-    fi
-
-    if test ! -z "$with_zlib" && test "$with_zlib" != "no" && test "$opal_zlib_support" != "1"; then
-        AC_MSG_WARN([ZLIB SUPPORT REQUESTED AND NOT FOUND])
-        AC_MSG_ERROR([CANNOT CONTINUE])
-    fi
-
-    AC_MSG_CHECKING([will zlib support be built])
-    if test "$opal_zlib_support" != "1"; then
-        AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-    else
-        AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
-    fi
-
-    AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([OPAL_HAVE_ZLIB], [$opal_zlib_support],
-                       [Whether or not we have zlib support])
-    OPAL_VAR_SCOPE_POP
-])dnl
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 16d193d2e4..f8a423f6a2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS([alloca.h aio.h arpa/inet.h dirent.h \
     sys/types.h sys/uio.h sys/un.h net/uio.h sys/utsname.h sys/vfs.h sys/wait.h syslog.h \
     termios.h ulimit.h unistd.h util.h utmp.h malloc.h \
     ifaddrs.h crt_externs.h regex.h mntent.h paths.h \
-    ioLib.h sockLib.h hostLib.h shlwapi.h sys/synch.h db.h ndbm.h zlib.h ieee754.h])
+    ioLib.h sockLib.h hostLib.h shlwapi.h sys/synch.h db.h ndbm.h ieee754.h])
 
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/mount.h], [], [],
 [AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT