diff --git a/gas/ChangeLog b/gas/ChangeLog
index f49a539c3e1..0478495dee3 100644
--- a/gas/ChangeLog
+++ b/gas/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2001-08-08  Alan Modra  <amodra@bigpond.net.au>
+
+	* output-file.c (output_file_create): Don't try to open using
+	FOPEN_W as it's unnecessary and VMS doesn't define FOPEN_W.
+
 2001-08-07  Thiemo Seufer <seufer@csv.ica.uni-stuttgart.de>
 
 	/gas/ChangeLog
diff --git a/gas/output-file.c b/gas/output-file.c
index de1dcbf6ed2..531e35fa691 100644
--- a/gas/output-file.c
+++ b/gas/output-file.c
@@ -110,12 +110,6 @@ output_file_create (name)
     }
 
   stdoutput = fopen (name, FOPEN_WB);
-
-  /* Some systems don't grok "b" in fopen modes.  */
-  /* XXX - is this still necessary now that we use FOPEN_WB ?  */
-  if (stdoutput == NULL)
-    stdoutput = fopen (name, FOPEN_W);
-
   if (stdoutput == NULL)
     {
       as_perror (_("FATAL: can't create %s"), name);