diff --git a/src/srun/allocate.c b/src/srun/allocate.c
index b67655e4f7438885a95e22e45f13d3af6cc6abeb..68ac0cace2471615a9b4c03abbd1e2a60a74e5dc 100644
--- a/src/srun/allocate.c
+++ b/src/srun/allocate.c
@@ -404,26 +404,7 @@ job_desc_msg_create_from_opts (char *script)
 	j->immediate      = opt.immediate;
 	j->name           = opt.job_name;
 	j->req_nodes      = xstrdup(opt.nodelist);
-	if (j->req_nodes == NULL) {
-		char *nodelist = NULL;
-		char *hostfile = getenv("SLURM_HOSTFILE");
-		
-		if (hostfile != NULL) {
-			nodelist = slurm_read_hostfile(hostfile, opt.nprocs);
-			if (nodelist == NULL) {
-				error("Failure getting NodeNames from "
-				      "hostfile");
-				/* FIXME - need to fail somehow */
-			} else {
-				debug("loading nodes from hostfile %s",
-				      hostfile);
-				opt.nodelist = xstrdup(nodelist);
-				j->req_nodes = xstrdup(nodelist);
-				free(nodelist);
-				opt.distribution = SLURM_DIST_ARBITRARY;
-			}
-		}
-	}
+	
 	/* simplify the job allocation nodelist, 
 	  not laying out tasks until step */
 	if(j->req_nodes) {
diff --git a/src/srun/srun_job.c b/src/srun/srun_job.c
index 7fa751556398f13395fc3f7d4878e5e117f5708b..b6e7fc2addef796911179c4a9f898552ededdbbc 100644
--- a/src/srun/srun_job.c
+++ b/src/srun/srun_job.c
@@ -169,28 +169,6 @@ job_step_create_allocation(uint32_t job_id)
 	
 	ai->jobid          = job_id;
 	ai->stepid         = NO_VAL;
-
-	if (opt.nodelist == NULL) {
-		char *nodelist = NULL;
-		char *hostfile = getenv("SLURM_HOSTFILE");
-		
-		if (hostfile != NULL) {
-			nodelist = slurm_read_hostfile(hostfile,
-						       opt.max_nodes);
-			if (nodelist == NULL) {
-				error("Failure getting NodeNames from "
-				      "hostfile");
-				/* FIXME - need to fail somehow */
-			} else {
-				debug("loading nodes from hostfile %s",
-				      hostfile);
-				opt.nodelist = xstrdup(nodelist);
-				free(nodelist);
-				opt.distribution = SLURM_DIST_ARBITRARY;
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
 	ai->nodelist = opt.alloc_nodelist;
 	hl = hostlist_create(ai->nodelist);
 	hostlist_uniq(hl);