diff --git a/GNUmakefile.in b/GNUmakefile.in
index 973fef54fb..563c83b5a2 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile.in
+++ b/GNUmakefile.in
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ GNUmakefile: GNUmakefile.in $(top_builddir)/config.status
 
 distdir	= postgresql-$(VERSION)
 dummy	= =install=
-garbage = =*  "#"*  ."#"*  *~*  *.orig  *.rej  core  postgresql-*
 
 dist: $(distdir).tar.gz $(distdir).tar.bz2
 	rm -rf $(distdir)
diff --git a/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/Makefile b/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/Makefile
index b0c404e41e..07721752c8 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/Makefile
+++ b/src/interfaces/ecpg/preproc/Makefile
@@ -64,8 +64,6 @@ uninstall:
 
 clean distclean:
 	rm -f *.o ecpg$(X)
-# garbage from development
-	@rm -f core a.out
 
 # `make distclean' must not remove preproc.y, preproc.c, preproc.h, or pgc.c
 # since we want to ship those files in the distribution for people with