diff --git a/HTMLparser.c b/HTMLparser.c
index c0b54e69..5b7016be 100644
--- a/HTMLparser.c
+++ b/HTMLparser.c
@@ -2265,7 +2265,6 @@ htmlNewInputStream(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
     }
     memset(input, 0, sizeof(htmlParserInput));
     input->filename = NULL;
-    input->directory = NULL;
     input->base = NULL;
     input->cur = NULL;
     input->buf = NULL;
@@ -5861,12 +5860,6 @@ htmlCreatePushParserCtxt(htmlSAXHandlerPtr sax, void *user_data,
 	xmlFreeParserInputBuffer(buf);
 	return(NULL);
     }
-    if (filename == NULL) {
-	ctxt->directory = NULL;
-    } else {
-        ctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-    }
-
     inputStream = htmlNewInputStream(ctxt);
     if (inputStream == NULL) {
 	xmlFreeParserCtxt(ctxt);
@@ -6272,8 +6265,6 @@ htmlCtxtReset(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt)
     ctxt->version = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->encoding);
     ctxt->encoding = NULL;
-    DICT_FREE(ctxt->directory);
-    ctxt->directory = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->extSubURI);
     ctxt->extSubURI = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->extSubSystem);
diff --git a/SAX2.c b/SAX2.c
index 9ec306fe..dc428a24 100644
--- a/SAX2.c
+++ b/SAX2.c
@@ -412,8 +412,6 @@ xmlSAX2ResolveEntity(void *ctx, const xmlChar *publicId, const xmlChar *systemId
     if (ctx == NULL) return(NULL);
     if (ctxt->input != NULL)
 	base = ctxt->input->filename;
-    if (base == NULL)
-	base = ctxt->directory;
 
     if (xmlBuildURISafe(systemId, (const xmlChar *) base, &URI) < 0)
         xmlSAX2ErrMemory(ctxt);
@@ -556,8 +554,6 @@ xmlSAX2EntityDecl(void *ctx, const xmlChar *name, int type,
 
         if (ctxt->input != NULL)
             base = ctxt->input->filename;
-        if (base == NULL)
-            base = ctxt->directory;
 
         if (base != NULL) {
             if (xmlBuildURISafe(systemId, (const xmlChar *) base, &URI) < 0)
diff --git a/catalog.c b/catalog.c
index a79ff5ae..947ec182 100644
--- a/catalog.c
+++ b/catalog.c
@@ -871,7 +871,6 @@ xmlDocPtr
 xmlParseCatalogFile(const char *filename) {
     xmlDocPtr ret;
     xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt;
-    char *directory = NULL;
     xmlParserInputPtr inputStream;
     xmlParserInputBufferPtr buf;
 
@@ -899,10 +898,7 @@ xmlParseCatalogFile(const char *filename) {
     xmlBufResetInput(buf->buffer, inputStream);
 
     inputPush(ctxt, inputStream);
-    if (ctxt->directory == NULL)
-        directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-    if ((ctxt->directory == NULL) && (directory != NULL))
-        ctxt->directory = directory;
+
     ctxt->valid = 0;
     ctxt->validate = 0;
     ctxt->loadsubset = 0;
diff --git a/include/libxml/parser.h b/include/libxml/parser.h
index ebf5fdeb..f5628268 100644
--- a/include/libxml/parser.h
+++ b/include/libxml/parser.h
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ struct _xmlParserInput {
     xmlParserInputBufferPtr buf;      /* UTF-8 encoded buffer */
 
     const char *filename;             /* The file analyzed, if any */
-    const char *directory;            /* the directory/base of the file */
+    const char *directory;            /* unused */
     const xmlChar *base;              /* Base of the array to parse */
     const xmlChar *cur;               /* Current char being parsed */
     const xmlChar *end;               /* end of the array to parse */
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ struct _xmlParserCtxt {
     xmlParserInputState instate;      /* current type of input */
     int                 token;        /* next char look-ahead */
 
-    char           *directory;        /* the data directory */
+    char           *directory;        /* unused */
 
     /* Node name stack */
     const xmlChar     *name;          /* Current parsed Node */
diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index 8823bfcf..5eaaf47a 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -12042,16 +12042,6 @@ xmlCreatePushParserCtxt(xmlSAXHandlerPtr sax, void *user_data,
 	return(NULL);
     }
     ctxt->dictNames = 1;
-    if (filename == NULL) {
-	ctxt->directory = NULL;
-    } else {
-        ctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-        if (ctxt->directory == NULL) {
-            xmlFreeParserCtxt(ctxt);
-            xmlFreeParserInputBuffer(buf);
-            return(NULL);
-        }
-    }
 
     inputStream = xmlNewInputStream(ctxt);
     if (inputStream == NULL) {
@@ -13452,14 +13442,6 @@ xmlCreateEntityParserCtxtInternal(xmlSAXHandlerPtr sax, void *userData,
 
     inputPush(ctxt, inputStream);
 
-    if (ctxt->directory == NULL) {
-        ctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory((char *)URL);
-        if (ctxt->directory == NULL) {
-            xmlErrMemory(ctxt);
-            goto error;
-        }
-    }
-
     xmlFree(uri);
     return(ctxt);
 
@@ -13522,7 +13504,6 @@ xmlCreateURLParserCtxt(const char *filename, int options)
 {
     xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt;
     xmlParserInputPtr inputStream;
-    char *directory = NULL;
 
     ctxt = xmlNewParserCtxt();
     if (ctxt == NULL)
@@ -13539,10 +13520,6 @@ xmlCreateURLParserCtxt(const char *filename, int options)
     }
 
     inputPush(ctxt, inputStream);
-    if ((ctxt->directory == NULL) && (directory == NULL))
-        directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-    if ((ctxt->directory == NULL) && (directory != NULL))
-        ctxt->directory = directory;
 
     return(ctxt);
 }
@@ -13607,9 +13584,6 @@ xmlSAXParseFileWithData(xmlSAXHandlerPtr sax, const char *filename,
 	ctxt->_private = data;
     }
 
-    if (ctxt->directory == NULL)
-        ctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-
     ctxt->recovery = recovery;
 
     xmlParseDocument(ctxt);
@@ -14227,8 +14201,6 @@ xmlCtxtReset(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt)
     ctxt->version = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->encoding);
     ctxt->encoding = NULL;
-    DICT_FREE(ctxt->directory);
-    ctxt->directory = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->extSubURI);
     ctxt->extSubURI = NULL;
     DICT_FREE(ctxt->extSubSystem);
@@ -14317,12 +14289,6 @@ xmlCtxtResetPush(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const char *chunk,
 
     xmlCtxtReset(ctxt);
 
-    if (filename == NULL) {
-        ctxt->directory = NULL;
-    } else {
-        ctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(filename);
-    }
-
     inputStream = xmlNewInputStream(ctxt);
     if (inputStream == NULL) {
         xmlFreeParserInputBuffer(buf);
diff --git a/parserInternals.c b/parserInternals.c
index ee5b4b12..79708cf0 100644
--- a/parserInternals.c
+++ b/parserInternals.c
@@ -1420,7 +1420,6 @@ xmlFreeInputStream(xmlParserInputPtr input) {
     if (input == NULL) return;
 
     if (input->filename != NULL) xmlFree((char *) input->filename);
-    if (input->directory != NULL) xmlFree((char *) input->directory);
     if (input->version != NULL) xmlFree((char *) input->version);
     if ((input->free != NULL) && (input->base != NULL))
         input->free((xmlChar *) input->base);
@@ -1736,10 +1735,6 @@ xmlCheckHTTPInput(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, xmlParserInputPtr ret) {
             if (redir != NULL) {
                 if (ret->filename != NULL)
                     xmlFree((xmlChar *) ret->filename);
-                if (ret->directory != NULL) {
-                    xmlFree((xmlChar *) ret->directory);
-                    ret->directory = NULL;
-                }
                 ret->filename =
                     (char *) xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *) redir);
             }
@@ -1762,7 +1757,6 @@ xmlParserInputPtr
 xmlNewInputFromFile(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const char *filename) {
     xmlParserInputBufferPtr buf;
     xmlParserInputPtr inputStream;
-    char *directory = NULL;
     xmlChar *URI = NULL;
     int code;
 
@@ -1791,15 +1785,12 @@ xmlNewInputFromFile(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const char *filename) {
 	URI = xmlStrdup((xmlChar *) filename);
     else
 	URI = xmlStrdup((xmlChar *) inputStream->filename);
-    directory = xmlParserGetDirectory((const char *) URI);
     if (inputStream->filename != NULL) xmlFree((char *)inputStream->filename);
     inputStream->filename = (char *) xmlCanonicPath((const xmlChar *) URI);
     if (URI != NULL) xmlFree((char *) URI);
-    inputStream->directory = directory;
 
     xmlBufResetInput(inputStream->buf->buffer, inputStream);
-    if ((ctxt->directory == NULL) && (directory != NULL))
-        ctxt->directory = (char *) xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *) directory);
+
     return(inputStream);
 }
 
@@ -2035,7 +2026,6 @@ xmlInitSAXParserCtxt(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const xmlSAXHandler *sax,
     ctxt->external = 0;
     ctxt->instate = XML_PARSER_START;
     ctxt->token = 0;
-    ctxt->directory = NULL;
 
     /* Allocate the Node stack */
     if (ctxt->nodeTab == NULL) {
@@ -2179,7 +2169,6 @@ xmlFreeParserCtxt(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt)
     if (ctxt->sax != NULL)
 #endif /* LIBXML_SAX1_ENABLED */
         xmlFree(ctxt->sax);
-    if (ctxt->directory != NULL) xmlFree((char *) ctxt->directory);
     if (ctxt->vctxt.nodeTab != NULL) xmlFree(ctxt->vctxt.nodeTab);
     if (ctxt->atts != NULL) xmlFree((xmlChar * *)ctxt->atts);
     if (ctxt->dict != NULL) xmlDictFree(ctxt->dict);
diff --git a/python/libxml.c b/python/libxml.c
index 8e4d9982..6bf06d57 100644
--- a/python/libxml.c
+++ b/python/libxml.c
@@ -692,7 +692,6 @@ pythonExternalEntityLoader(const char *URL, const char *ID,
 		Py_DECREF(ret);
 	    } else if (URL != NULL) {
 		result->filename = (char *) xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *)URL);
-		result->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory((const char *) URL);
 	    }
 	}
     }
diff --git a/xinclude.c b/xinclude.c
index 07c6db59..5793a3ec 100644
--- a/xinclude.c
+++ b/xinclude.c
@@ -339,14 +339,6 @@ xmlXIncludeParseFile(xmlXIncludeCtxtPtr ctxt, const char *URL) {
 
     inputPush(pctxt, inputStream);
 
-    if (pctxt->directory == NULL) {
-        pctxt->directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(URL);
-        if (pctxt->directory == NULL) {
-            xmlXIncludeErrMemory(ctxt);
-            goto error;
-        }
-    }
-
     pctxt->loadsubset |= XML_DETECT_IDS;
 
     xmlParseDocument(pctxt);
diff --git a/xmlreader.c b/xmlreader.c
index 1ea89056..d96a2ebc 100644
--- a/xmlreader.c
+++ b/xmlreader.c
@@ -2102,7 +2102,6 @@ xmlTextReaderPtr
 xmlNewTextReaderFilename(const char *URI) {
     xmlParserInputBufferPtr input;
     xmlTextReaderPtr ret;
-    char *directory = NULL;
 
     input = xmlParserInputBufferCreateFilename(URI, XML_CHAR_ENCODING_NONE);
     if (input == NULL)
@@ -2113,12 +2112,6 @@ xmlNewTextReaderFilename(const char *URI) {
 	return(NULL);
     }
     ret->allocs |= XML_TEXTREADER_INPUT;
-    if (ret->ctxt->directory == NULL)
-        directory = xmlParserGetDirectory(URI);
-    if ((ret->ctxt->directory == NULL) && (directory != NULL))
-        ret->ctxt->directory = (char *) xmlStrdup((xmlChar *) directory);
-    if (directory != NULL)
-	xmlFree(directory);
     return(ret);
 }