diff --git a/SAX2.c b/SAX2.c
index f6321c68..c825f73c 100644
--- a/SAX2.c
+++ b/SAX2.c
@@ -2937,7 +2937,7 @@ xmlSAX2InitDefaultSAXHandler(xmlSAXHandler *hdlr, int warning)
 /**
  * xmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit:
  *
- * DEPRECATED: This function will be made private. Call xmlInitParser to
+ * DEPRECATED: This function is a no-op. Call xmlInitParser to
  * initialize the library.
  *
  * Initialize the default SAX2 handler
@@ -2945,9 +2945,6 @@ xmlSAX2InitDefaultSAXHandler(xmlSAXHandler *hdlr, int warning)
 void
 xmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit(void)
 {
-#ifdef LIBXML_SAX1_ENABLED
-    xmlSAXVersion((xmlSAXHandlerPtr) &xmlDefaultSAXHandler, 1);
-#endif /* LIBXML_SAX1_ENABLED */
 }
 
 #ifdef LIBXML_HTML_ENABLED
@@ -2998,17 +2995,12 @@ xmlSAX2InitHtmlDefaultSAXHandler(xmlSAXHandler *hdlr)
 /**
  * htmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit:
  *
- * DEPRECATED: This function will be made private. Call xmlInitParser to
+ * DEPRECATED: This function is a no-op. Call xmlInitParser to
  * initialize the library.
- *
- * Initialize the default SAX handler
  */
 void
 htmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit(void)
 {
-#ifdef LIBXML_SAX1_ENABLED
-    xmlSAX2InitHtmlDefaultSAXHandler((xmlSAXHandlerPtr) &htmlDefaultSAXHandler);
-#endif
 }
 
 #endif /* LIBXML_HTML_ENABLED */
diff --git a/globals.c b/globals.c
index 7e5c1aa9..b99121c9 100644
--- a/globals.c
+++ b/globals.c
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ xmlSAXHandlerV1 xmlDefaultSAXHandler = {
     xmlSAX2GetParameterEntity,
     xmlSAX2CDataBlock,
     xmlSAX2ExternalSubset,
-    0,
+    1,
 };
 #endif /* LIBXML_SAX1_ENABLED */
 
@@ -480,10 +480,10 @@ xmlSAXHandlerV1 htmlDefaultSAXHandler = {
     xmlParserWarning,
     xmlParserError,
     xmlParserError,
-    xmlSAX2GetParameterEntity,
+    NULL,
     xmlSAX2CDataBlock,
     NULL,
-    0,
+    1,
 };
 #endif /* LIBXML_HTML_ENABLED */
 
diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index d1823af5..b5df3710 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -14498,14 +14498,12 @@ xmlInitParser(void) {
 	xmlInitMemory();
         xmlInitializeDict();
 	xmlInitCharEncodingHandlers();
-	xmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit();
 	xmlRegisterDefaultInputCallbacks();
 #ifdef LIBXML_OUTPUT_ENABLED
 	xmlRegisterDefaultOutputCallbacks();
 #endif /* LIBXML_OUTPUT_ENABLED */
 #ifdef LIBXML_HTML_ENABLED
 	htmlInitAutoClose();
-	htmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit();
 #endif
 #if defined(LIBXML_XPATH_ENABLED) || defined(LIBXML_SCHEMAS_ENABLED)
 	xmlXPathInit();