diff --git a/README b/README
index 2ec8e28a2..8f23b088c 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ The full requirements are described below.
 +--------------+-------------+---+-----------------------------------------+
 | libxml2      |             | R | Popular XML library.                    |
 +--------------+-------------+---+-----------------------------------------+
+| augeas       | 1.0.0       | R |                                         |
++--------------+-------------+---+-----------------------------------------+
 | po4a         |             |R/O| Required if compiling from git.         |
 |              |             |   | Optional if compiling from tarball.     |
 |              |             |   | For localizing man pages.               |
@@ -120,8 +122,6 @@ The full requirements are described below.
 | libselinux   |             | O | Used by the libvirt backend to securely |
 |              |             |   | confine the appliance (sVirt).          |
 +--------------+-------------+---+-----------------------------------------+
-| augeas       | 0.5.0       | O | To inspect configuration of Linux guests.
-+--------------+-------------+---+-----------------------------------------+
 | db utils     |             | O | db_dump, db_load etc.  Usually found in |
 |              |             |   | a package called db-utils, db4-utils,   |
 |              |             |   | db4.X-utils, Berkeley DB utils, etc.    |
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index db7d37b37..2bfc4bf75 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -550,19 +550,6 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_XDR_U_INT64_T],
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_XDR_UINT64_T],
                [test "x$ac_cv_search_xdr_uint64_t" != "xno"])
 
-dnl Check for Augeas (optional).
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([AUGEAS],[augeas],[
-    AC_SUBST([AUGEAS_CFLAGS])
-    AC_SUBST([AUGEAS_LIBS])
-    AC_DEFINE([HAVE_AUGEAS],[1],[Define to 1 if you have Augeas.])
-
-    old_LIBS="$LIBS"
-    LIBS="$LIBS $AUGEAS_LIBS"
-    dnl Check for functions not available in earlier versions of Augeas.
-    AC_CHECK_FUNCS([aug_load aug_defvar aug_defnode])
-    LIBS="$old_LIBS"
-],[AC_MSG_WARN([augeas not found, some core features will be disabled])])
-
 dnl Check for libselinux (optional).
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([selinux/selinux.h])
 AC_CHECK_LIB([selinux],[setexeccon],[
@@ -816,6 +803,9 @@ AS_IF([test "x$with_readline" != xno],[
 dnl Check for PCRE (required)
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PCRE], [libpcre])
 
+dnl Check for Augeas >= 1.0.0 (required).
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([AUGEAS],[augeas >= 1.0.0])
+
 dnl libmagic (highly recommended)
 AC_CHECK_LIB([magic],[magic_file],[
     AC_CHECK_HEADER([magic.h],[
diff --git a/daemon/augeas.c b/daemon/augeas.c
index c0c97e303..4525c47a7 100644
--- a/daemon/augeas.c
+++ b/daemon/augeas.c
@@ -23,15 +23,18 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_AUGEAS
 #include <augeas.h>
-#endif
 
 #include "daemon.h"
 #include "actions.h"
 #include "optgroups.h"
 
-#ifdef HAVE_AUGEAS
+int
+optgroup_augeas_available (void)
+{
+  return 1;
+}
+
 /* The Augeas handle.  We maintain a single handle per daemon, which
  * is all that is necessary and reduces the complexity of the API
  * considerably.
@@ -58,12 +61,6 @@ aug_finalize (void)
   }									\
   while (0)
 
-int
-optgroup_augeas_available (void)
-{
-  return 1;
-}
-
 /* We need to rewrite the root path so it is based at /sysroot. */
 int
 do_aug_init (const char *root, int flags)
@@ -105,7 +102,6 @@ do_aug_close (void)
 int
 do_aug_defvar (const char *name, const char *expr)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE_AUG_DEFVAR
   int r;
 
   NEED_AUG (-1);
@@ -116,16 +112,11 @@ do_aug_defvar (const char *name, const char *expr)
     return -1;
   }
   return r;
-#else
-  reply_with_error ("function not available");
-  return -1;
-#endif
 }
 
 guestfs_int_int_bool *
 do_aug_defnode (const char *name, const char *expr, const char *val)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE_AUG_DEFNODE
   guestfs_int_int_bool *r;
   int i, created;
 
@@ -147,10 +138,6 @@ do_aug_defnode (const char *name, const char *expr, const char *val)
   r->b = created;
 
   return r;
-#else
-  reply_with_error ("function not available");
-  return NULL;
-#endif
 }
 
 char *
@@ -317,7 +304,6 @@ do_aug_save (void)
 int
 do_aug_load (void)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE_AUG_LOAD
   NEED_AUG (-1);
 
   if (aug_load (aug) == -1) {
@@ -326,10 +312,6 @@ do_aug_load (void)
   }
 
   return 0;
-#else
-  reply_with_error ("function not available");
-  return -1;
-#endif
 }
 
 /* Simpler version of aug-match, which also sorts the output. */
@@ -375,9 +357,3 @@ do_aug_ls (const char *path)
   sort_strings (matches, count_strings ((void *) matches));
   return matches;		/* Caller frees. */
 }
-
-#else /* !HAVE_AUGEAS */
-
-OPTGROUP_AUGEAS_NOT_AVAILABLE
-
-#endif
diff --git a/src/inspect-fs-unix.c b/src/inspect-fs-unix.c
index 9c0b31038..a23aee683 100644
--- a/src/inspect-fs-unix.c
+++ b/src/inspect-fs-unix.c
@@ -1525,10 +1525,6 @@ inspect_with_augeas (guestfs_h *g, struct inspect_fs *fs,
     }
   }
 
-  /* If !feature_available (g, "augeas") then the next call will fail.
-   * Arguably we might want to fall back to a non-Augeas method in
-   * this case.
-   */
   if (guestfs_aug_init (g, "/", 16|32) == -1)
     return -1;