diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 46f1db3e7cc..089aa355d75 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -99,10 +99,6 @@
 	path = utils/hsc2hs
 	url = https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/hsc2hs.git
 	ignore = untracked
-[submodule "libffi-tarballs"]
-	path = libffi-tarballs
-	url = https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/libffi-tarballs.git
-	ignore = untracked
 [submodule "gmp-tarballs"]
 	path = libraries/ghc-internal/gmp/gmp-tarballs
 	url = https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/gmp-tarballs.git
diff --git a/compiler/GHC/Driver/CodeOutput.hs b/compiler/GHC/Driver/CodeOutput.hs
index b3b3a50b1d7..9c5861292f3 100644
--- a/compiler/GHC/Driver/CodeOutput.hs
+++ b/compiler/GHC/Driver/CodeOutput.hs
@@ -252,12 +252,11 @@ outputJS _ _ _ _ _ = pgmError $ "codeOutput: Hit JavaScript case. We should neve
 -}
 
 {-
-Note [Packaging libffi headers]
+Note [libffi headers]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 The C code emitted by GHC for libffi adjustors must depend upon the ffi_arg type,
-defined in <ffi.h>. For this reason, we must ensure that <ffi.h> is available
-in binary distributions. To do so, we install these headers as part of the
-`rts` package.
+defined in <ffi.h>. On systems where GHC uses the libffi adjustors, the libffi
+library, and headers must be installed.
 -}
 
 outputForeignStubs
diff --git a/libffi-tarballs b/libffi-tarballs
deleted file mode 160000
index 7c51059557b..00000000000
--- a/libffi-tarballs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 7c51059557b68d29820a0a87cebfa6fe73c8adf5
diff --git a/packages b/packages
index 4f02d0133c0..d6bb0cd77e1 100644
--- a/packages
+++ b/packages
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 # localpath                  tag         remotepath                      upstreamurl
 # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ghc-tarballs                 windows     ghc-tarballs.git                -
-libffi-tarballs              -           -                               -
 utils/hsc2hs                 -           -                               ssh://git@github.com/haskell/hsc2hs.git
 libraries/array              -           -                               -
 libraries/binary             -           -                               https://github.com/kolmodin/binary.git