diff --git a/src/fccfg.c b/src/fccfg.c
index 1069cd2..bc408db 100644
--- a/src/fccfg.c
+++ b/src/fccfg.c
@@ -1081,7 +1081,7 @@ FcConfigEvaluate (FcPattern *p, FcPattern *p_pat, FcMatchKind kind, FcExpr *e)
 		case FcOpPlus:
 		    v.type = FcTypeString;
 		    str = FcStrPlus (vl.u.s, vr.u.s);
-		    v.u.s = FcSharedStr (str);
+		    v.u.s = FcStrdup (str);
 		    FcStrFree (str);
 			
 		    if (!v.u.s)
diff --git a/src/fcdefault.c b/src/fcdefault.c
index 0069db2..6937994 100644
--- a/src/fcdefault.c
+++ b/src/fcdefault.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ retry:
     if (!lang)
     {
 	FcStrSet *langs = FcGetDefaultLangs ();
-	lang = (FcChar8 *) strdup ((const char *) langs->strs[0]);
+	lang = FcStrdup (langs->strs[0]);
 	FcStrSetDestroy (langs);
 
 	if (!fc_atomic_ptr_cmpexch (&default_lang, NULL, lang)) {
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ FcDefaultSubstitute (FcPattern *pattern)
      * exact matched "en" has higher score than ll-cc.
      */
     v2.type = FcTypeString;
-    v2.u.s = FcSharedStr ((FcChar8 *)"en-us");
+    v2.u.s = FcStrdup ("en-us");
     if (FcPatternObjectGet (pattern, FC_FAMILYLANG_OBJECT, 0, &v) == FcResultNoMatch)
     {
 	FcPatternObjectAdd (pattern, FC_FAMILYLANG_OBJECT, namelang, FcTrue);
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ FcDefaultSubstitute (FcPattern *pattern)
 	FcPatternObjectAdd (pattern, FC_FULLNAMELANG_OBJECT, namelang, FcTrue);
 	FcPatternObjectAddWithBinding (pattern, FC_FULLNAMELANG_OBJECT, v2, FcValueBindingWeak, FcTrue);
     }
-    FcSharedStrFree ((FcChar8 *) v2.u.s);
+    FcFree (v2.u.s);
 }
 #define __fcdefault__
 #include "fcaliastail.h"
diff --git a/src/fcint.h b/src/fcint.h
index 17298f7..9520be3 100644
--- a/src/fcint.h
+++ b/src/fcint.h
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ typedef enum _FcValueBinding {
     FcValueBindingWeak, FcValueBindingStrong, FcValueBindingSame
 } FcValueBinding;
 
+#define FcStrdup(s) ((FcChar8 *) strdup ((const char *) (s)))
+#define FcFree(s) (free ((FcChar8 *) (s)))
+
 /*
  * Serialized data structures use only offsets instead of pointers
  * A low bit of 1 indicates an offset.
@@ -969,12 +972,6 @@ FcPatternObjectGetLangSet (const FcPattern *p, FcObject object, int n, FcLangSet
 FcPrivate FcBool
 FcPatternAppend (FcPattern *p, FcPattern *s);
 
-FcPrivate const FcChar8 *
-FcSharedStr (const FcChar8 *name);
-
-FcPrivate FcBool
-FcSharedStrFree (FcChar8 *name);
-
 FcPrivate FcChar32
 FcStringHash (const FcChar8 *s);
 
diff --git a/src/fclist.c b/src/fclist.c
index ba68d68..b7ae899 100644
--- a/src/fclist.c
+++ b/src/fclist.c
@@ -63,14 +63,14 @@ FcObjectSetAdd (FcObjectSet *os, const char *object)
     low = 0;
     mid = 0;
     c = 1;
-    object = (char *)FcSharedStr ((FcChar8 *)object);
+    object = strdup (object);
     while (low <= high)
     {
 	mid = (low + high) >> 1;
 	c = os->objects[mid] - object;
 	if (c == 0)
 	{
-	    FcSharedStrFree ((FcChar8 *)object);
+	    FcFree (object);
 	    return FcTrue;
 	}
 	if (c < 0)
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ FcObjectSetDestroy (FcObjectSet *os)
     if (os->objects)
     {
 	for (i = 0; i < os->nobject; i++)
-	    FcSharedStrFree ((FcChar8 *)os->objects[i]);
+	    FcFree (os->objects[i]);
 
 	free ((void *) os->objects);
     }
diff --git a/src/fcname.c b/src/fcname.c
index 1bfc3b7..2418189 100644
--- a/src/fcname.c
+++ b/src/fcname.c
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ FcNameConvert (FcType type, FcChar8 *string)
 	    v.u.i = atoi ((char *) string);
 	break;
     case FcTypeString:
-	v.u.s = FcSharedStr (string);
+	v.u.s = FcStrdup (string);
 	if (!v.u.s)
 	    v.type = FcTypeVoid;
 	break;
diff --git a/src/fcobjs.c b/src/fcobjs.c
index 9336068..4a1b0a8 100644
--- a/src/fcobjs.c
+++ b/src/fcobjs.c
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ retry:
 	if (!ot)
 	    return NULL;
 
-	ot->object.object = strdup (str);
+	ot->object.object = FcStrdup (str);
 	ot->object.type = -1;
 	ot->id = fc_atomic_int_add (next_id, +1);
 	ot->next = ots;
diff --git a/src/fcpat.c b/src/fcpat.c
index c3b90d6..b3b155d 100644
--- a/src/fcpat.c
+++ b/src/fcpat.c
@@ -45,8 +45,7 @@ FcValueDestroy (FcValue v)
 {
     switch ((int) v.type) {
     case FcTypeString:
-	if (!FcSharedStrFree (v.u.s))
-            FcStrFree ((FcChar8 *) v.u.s);
+	FcFree (v.u.s);
 	break;
     case FcTypeMatrix:
 	FcMatrixFree ((FcMatrix *) v.u.m);
@@ -93,7 +92,7 @@ FcValueSave (FcValue v)
 {
     switch ((int) v.type) {
     case FcTypeString:
-	v.u.s = FcSharedStr (v.u.s);
+	v.u.s = FcStrdup (v.u.s);
 	if (!v.u.s)
 	    v.type = FcTypeVoid;
 	break;
@@ -132,8 +131,7 @@ FcValueListDestroy (FcValueListPtr l)
     {
 	switch ((int) l->value.type) {
 	case FcTypeString:
-	    if (!FcSharedStrFree ((FcChar8 *)l->value.u.s))
-                FcStrFree ((FcChar8 *)l->value.u.s);
+	    FcFree (l->value.u.s);
 	    break;
 	case FcTypeMatrix:
 	    FcMatrixFree ((FcMatrix *)l->value.u.m);
@@ -1147,23 +1145,6 @@ bail0:
 }
 
 
-/* We used to have a shared-str pool.  Removed to make thread-safety
- * work easier.  My measurements show that the extra overhead is not
- * significant by any means. */
-
-FcBool
-FcSharedStrFree (FcChar8 *name)
-{
-  free (name);
-  return FcTrue;
-}
-
-const FcChar8 *
-FcSharedStr (const FcChar8 *name)
-{
-  return strdup ((const char *) name);
-}
-
 FcBool
 FcPatternSerializeAlloc (FcSerialize *serialize, const FcPattern *pat)
 {
diff --git a/src/fcstr.c b/src/fcstr.c
index f278022..34093a0 100644
--- a/src/fcstr.c
+++ b/src/fcstr.c
@@ -38,16 +38,7 @@
 FcChar8 *
 FcStrCopy (const FcChar8 *s)
 {
-    int     len;
-    FcChar8 *r;
-    if (!s)
-	return 0;
-    len = strlen ((char *) s) + 1;
-    r = (FcChar8 *) malloc (len);
-    if (!r)
-	return 0;
-    memcpy (r, s, len);
-    return r;
+    return FcStrdup (s);
 }
 
 FcChar8 *
diff --git a/src/fcxml.c b/src/fcxml.c
index 1963cba..1f068ce 100644
--- a/src/fcxml.c
+++ b/src/fcxml.c
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ FcExprCreateString (FcConfig *config, const FcChar8 *s)
     if (e)
     {
 	e->op = FcOpString;
-	e->u.sval = FcSharedStr (s);
+	e->u.sval = FcStrdup (s);
     }
     return e;
 }
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ FcExprCreateConst (FcConfig *config, const FcChar8 *constant)
     if (e)
     {
 	e->op = FcOpConst;
-	e->u.constant = FcSharedStr (constant);
+	e->u.constant = FcStrdup (constant);
     }
     return e;
 }
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ FcExprDestroy (FcExpr *e)
     case FcOpDouble:
 	break;
     case FcOpString:
-	FcSharedStrFree (e->u.sval);
+	FcFree (e->u.sval);
 	break;
     case FcOpMatrix:
 	FcExprMatrixFree (e->u.mexpr);
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ FcExprDestroy (FcExpr *e)
     case FcOpField:
 	break;
     case FcOpConst:
-	FcSharedStrFree (e->u.constant);
+	FcFree (e->u.constant);
 	break;
     case FcOpAssign:
     case FcOpAssignReplace:
@@ -2478,7 +2478,7 @@ FcPopValue (FcConfigParse *parse)
 
     switch ((int) vstack->tag) {
     case FcVStackString:
-	value.u.s = FcSharedStr (vstack->u.string);
+	value.u.s = FcStrdup (vstack->u.string);
 	if (value.u.s)
 	    value.type = FcTypeString;
 	break;