diff --git a/src/engine/TransLog.c b/src/engine/TransLog.c
index 6bff0c370d..9fbb3f4f38 100644
--- a/src/engine/TransLog.c
+++ b/src/engine/TransLog.c
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ xaccTransWriteLog (Transaction *trans)
 /********************************************************************\
 \********************************************************************/
 
+#if 0
+/* open_memstream seems to give various distros fits
+ * this code is not currently used ...  so its ifdef out
+ */
 
 char *
 xaccSplitAsString(Split *split, const char prefix[]) {
@@ -214,5 +218,7 @@ xaccTransAsString(Transaction *txn, const char prefix[]) {
   return(result);
 }
 
+#endif
+
 /************************ END OF ************************************\
 \************************* FILE *************************************/