diff --git a/Doc/tools/mkhowto b/Doc/tools/mkhowto
index e20480248af..8f506c5ba55 100755
--- a/Doc/tools/mkhowto
+++ b/Doc/tools/mkhowto
@@ -46,17 +46,6 @@ import shutil
 import sys
 
 
-if not hasattr(os.path, "abspath"):
-    # Python 1.5.1 or earlier
-    def abspath(path):
-        """Return an absolute path."""
-        if not os.path.isabs(path):
-            path = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), path)
-        return os.path.normpath(path)
-
-    os.path.abspath = abspath
-
-
 MYDIR = os.path.abspath(sys.path[0])
 TOPDIR = os.path.dirname(MYDIR)