diff --git a/lib/tls/openssl/openssl-tls.c b/lib/tls/openssl/openssl-tls.c
index 1a5c08da6..577acf357 100644
--- a/lib/tls/openssl/openssl-tls.c
+++ b/lib/tls/openssl/openssl-tls.c
@@ -31,45 +31,6 @@ extern int openssl_websocket_private_data_index,
 static char openssl_ex_indexes_acquired;
 #endif
 
-char *
-lws_ssl_get_error_string(int status, int ret, char *buf, size_t len)
-{
-	char t16[16];
-
-	switch (status) {
-	case SSL_ERROR_NONE:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_NONE", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_ZERO_RETURN:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_ZERO_RETURN", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_WANT_READ:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_WANT_READ", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_WANT_WRITE:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_WANT_WRITE", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_WANT_CONNECT:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_WANT_CONNECT", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_WANT_ACCEPT:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_WANT_ACCEPT", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_WANT_X509_LOOKUP:
-		return lws_strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_WANT_X509_LOOKUP", len);
-	case SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL:
-		switch (ret) {
-                case 0:
-                        lws_snprintf(buf, len, "SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL: EOF");
-                        return buf;
-                case -1:
-			lws_snprintf(buf, len, "SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL: %s",
-				lws_errno_describe(LWS_ERRNO, t16, sizeof(t16)));
-			return buf;
-                default:
-                        return strncpy(buf, "SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL", len);
-	}
-	case SSL_ERROR_SSL:
-		return "SSL_ERROR_SSL";
-	default:
-		return "SSL_ERROR_UNKNOWN";
-	}
-}
-
 void
 lws_tls_err_describe_clear(void)
 {
diff --git a/lib/tls/private-lib-tls.h b/lib/tls/private-lib-tls.h
index 13ac69266..28203c58a 100644
--- a/lib/tls/private-lib-tls.h
+++ b/lib/tls/private-lib-tls.h
@@ -174,8 +174,6 @@ int
 lws_tls_alloc_pem_to_der_file(struct lws_context *context, const char *filename,
 			      const char *inbuf, lws_filepos_t inlen,
 			      uint8_t **buf, lws_filepos_t *amount);
-char *
-lws_ssl_get_error_string(int status, int ret, char *buf, size_t len);
 
 int
 lws_gencrypto_bits_to_bytes(int bits);