diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index ae8eaed119..3cd59fd749 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -613,8 +613,6 @@ kernel_do_deploy() {
 		ln -sf ${base_name}.bin ${DEPLOYDIR}/${type}
 	done
 
-	cp ${COREBASE}/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt ${DEPLOYDIR}/README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt
-
 	cd ${B}
 	# Update deploy directory
 	for type in ${KERNEL_IMAGETYPES} ; do
diff --git a/meta/classes/license.bbclass b/meta/classes/license.bbclass
index 9923aac4ec..11d45f3867 100644
--- a/meta/classes/license.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/license.bbclass
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ def get_deployed_files(man_file):
     """
 
     dep_files = []
-    excluded_files = ["README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt"]
+    excluded_files = []
     with open(man_file, "r") as manifest:
         all_files = manifest.read()
     for f in all_files.splitlines():
diff --git a/meta/classes/sstate.bbclass b/meta/classes/sstate.bbclass
index 465fdcf57d..23dda082ca 100644
--- a/meta/classes/sstate.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/sstate.bbclass
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ SSTATE_DUPWHITELIST = "${DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE}/ ${DEPLOY_DIR}/licenses/ ${DEPLOY_DIR
 SSTATE_DUPWHITELIST += "${STAGING_ETCDIR_NATIVE}/sgml ${STAGING_DATADIR_NATIVE}/sgml"
 # Archive the sources for many architectures in one deploy folder
 SSTATE_DUPWHITELIST += "${DEPLOY_DIR_SRC}"
-# Ignore overlapping README
-SSTATE_DUPWHITELIST += "${DEPLOY_DIR}/sdk/README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt"
 
 SSTATE_SCAN_FILES ?= "*.la *-config *_config"
 SSTATE_SCAN_CMD ??= 'find ${SSTATE_BUILDDIR} \( -name "${@"\" -o -name \"".join(d.getVar("SSTATE_SCAN_FILES").split())}" \) -type f'
diff --git a/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt b/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 97ec1855f5..0000000000
--- a/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-Files in the deploy directory will not be re-created automatically if you
-delete them. If you do delete a file, you will need to run:
-
-  bitbake -c clean TARGET
-  bitbake TARGET
-
-where TARGET is the name of the appropriate package or target e.g.
-"virtual/kernel" for the kernel, an image, etc.
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/rootfs.py b/meta/lib/oe/rootfs.py
index 9c8a0ebb7e..cc111ff3c8 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/rootfs.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/rootfs.py
@@ -189,10 +189,6 @@ class Rootfs(object, metaclass=ABCMeta):
 
         shutil.copytree(postinst_intercepts_dir, intercepts_dir)
 
-        shutil.copy(self.d.expand("${COREBASE}/meta/files/deploydir_readme.txt"),
-                    self.deploydir +
-                    "/README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt")
-
         execute_pre_post_process(self.d, pre_process_cmds)
 
         if self.progress_reporter: