diff --git a/src/starter/Makefile.am b/src/starter/Makefile.am
index 873c20ace..70efcd854 100644
--- a/src/starter/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/starter/Makefile.am
@@ -47,10 +47,6 @@ if USE_LOAD_WARNING
   AM_CPPFLAGS += -DLOAD_WARNING
 endif
 
-if USE_SCEPCLIENT
-  AM_CPPFLAGS += -DGENERATE_SELFCERT
-endif
-
 keywords.c:	$(srcdir)/keywords.txt $(srcdir)/keywords.h
 		$(AM_V_GEN) \
 		$(GPERF) -m 10 -C -G -D -t < $(srcdir)/keywords.txt > $@
diff --git a/src/starter/starter.c b/src/starter/starter.c
index 45c28d3cc..51a42a504 100644
--- a/src/starter/starter.c
+++ b/src/starter/starter.c
@@ -257,68 +257,6 @@ static void fatal_signal_handler(int signal)
 	abort();
 }
 
-#ifdef GENERATE_SELFCERT
-static void generate_selfcert()
-{
-	const char *secrets_file;
-	struct stat stb;
-
-	secrets_file = lib->settings->get_str(lib->settings,
-							"charon.plugins.stroke.secrets_file", SECRETS_FILE);
-
-	/* if ipsec.secrets file is missing then generate RSA default key pair */
-	if (stat(secrets_file, &stb) != 0)
-	{
-		mode_t oldmask;
-		FILE *f;
-		uid_t uid = 0;
-		gid_t gid = 0;
-
-#ifdef IPSEC_GROUP
-		{
-			char buf[1024];
-			struct group group, *grp;
-
-			if (getgrnam_r(IPSEC_GROUP, &group, buf, sizeof(buf), &grp) == 0 &&	grp)
-			{
-				gid = grp->gr_gid;
-			}
-		}
-#endif
-#ifdef IPSEC_USER
-		{
-			char buf[1024];
-			struct passwd passwd, *pwp;
-
-			if (getpwnam_r(IPSEC_USER, &passwd, buf, sizeof(buf), &pwp) == 0 &&	pwp)
-			{
-				uid = pwp->pw_uid;
-			}
-		}
-#endif
-		ignore_result(setegid(gid));
-		ignore_result(seteuid(uid));
-		ignore_result(system(IPSEC_SCRIPT " scepclient --out pkcs1 --out cert-self --quiet"));
-		ignore_result(seteuid(0));
-		ignore_result(setegid(0));
-
-		/* ipsec.secrets is root readable only */
-		oldmask = umask(0066);
-
-		f = fopen(secrets_file, "w");
-		if (f)
-		{
-			fprintf(f, "# /etc/ipsec.secrets - strongSwan IPsec secrets file\n");
-			fprintf(f, "\n");
-			fprintf(f, ": RSA myKey.der\n");
-			fclose(f);
-		}
-		ignore_result(chown(secrets_file, uid, gid));
-		umask(oldmask);
-	}
-}
-#endif /* GENERATE_SELFCERT */
-
 static bool check_pid(char *pid_file)
 {
 	struct stat stb;
@@ -604,10 +542,6 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 		exit(LSB_RC_SUCCESS);
 	}
 
-#ifdef GENERATE_SELFCERT
-	generate_selfcert();
-#endif
-
 	/* fork if we're not debugging stuff */
 	if (!no_fork)
 	{