diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f9ca23b05dcb27ad7e2bb3715317370062dd84bf..0cc01b703e7990a779275f3f2b9bff99b3b53c54 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ AC_PROG_LIBTOOL dnl ([1.4]) Don't remove!
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CXX
 
-AC_C_FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER
-
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(mprotect sysconf getpagesize)
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(unistd.h sys/mman.h)
 
diff --git a/src/hb-open-file-private.hh b/src/hb-open-file-private.hh
index a3efaf12d240beeef873cee581d54f3eb4eef30f..83f65710f1fa18c5beb39f6562986940ee468cbe 100644
--- a/src/hb-open-file-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-open-file-private.hh
@@ -241,7 +241,6 @@ struct OpenTypeFontFile
   TTCHeader		ttcHeader[VAR];
   } u;
 };
-ASSERT_SIZE (OpenTypeFontFile, 4);
 
 
 #endif /* HB_OPEN_FILE_PRIVATE_HH */
diff --git a/src/hb-private.h b/src/hb-private.h
index 0f3484eace98df071148cdfbaf4ee1ea27d9b172..b33d629e5e02db17b2b58919bc2c18698e711164 100644
--- a/src/hb-private.h
+++ b/src/hb-private.h
@@ -82,11 +82,7 @@
 #define ASSERT_SIZE(_type, _size) ASSERT_STATIC (sizeof (_type) == (_size))
 
 /* Size signifying variable-sized array */
-#ifdef FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER
-#define VAR FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER
-#else
 #define VAR 1
-#endif
 
 #define VAR0 (VAR+0)
 #define ASSERT_SIZE_VAR(_type, _size, _var_type) \