diff --git a/activate.c b/activate.c
index c8453d5..8fd3dd0 100644
--- a/activate.c
+++ b/activate.c
@@ -69,33 +69,9 @@ static void activate_mapping(struct irq_info *info, void *data __attribute__((un
 	if (!info->moved)
 		return;
 
-	if ((info->hint_policy == HINT_POLICY_EXACT) &&
-	    (!cpus_empty(info->affinity_hint))) {
-		if (cpus_intersects(info->affinity_hint, banned_cpus))
-			log(TO_ALL, LOG_WARNING,
-			    "irq %d affinity_hint and banned cpus confict\n",
-			    info->irq);
-		else {
-			applied_mask = info->affinity_hint;
-			valid_mask = 1;
-		}
-	} else if (info->assigned_obj) {
+	if (info->assigned_obj) {
 		applied_mask = info->assigned_obj->mask;
-		if ((info->hint_policy == HINT_POLICY_SUBSET) &&
-		    (!cpus_empty(info->affinity_hint))) {
-			cpus_and(applied_mask, applied_mask, info->affinity_hint);
-			if (!cpus_intersects(applied_mask, unbanned_cpus)) {
-				if (!info->warned) {
-					info->warned = 1;
-					log(TO_ALL, LOG_WARNING,
-					    "irq %d affinity_hint subset empty\n",
-					    info->irq);
-				}
-			} else
-				valid_mask = 1;
-		} else {
-			valid_mask = 1;
-		}
+		valid_mask = 1;
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/classify.c b/classify.c
index 23cdedb..23fe274 100644
--- a/classify.c
+++ b/classify.c
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ struct user_irq_policy {
 	int level;
 	int numa_node_set;
 	int numa_node;
-	enum hp_e hintpolicy;
 };
 
 static GList *interrupts_db = NULL;
@@ -283,7 +282,6 @@ static void add_banned_irq(int irq, GList **list)
 
 	new->irq = irq;
 	new->flags |= IRQ_FLAG_BANNED;
-	new->hint_policy = HINT_POLICY_EXACT;
 
 	*list = g_list_append(*list, new);
 	log(TO_CONSOLE, LOG_INFO, "IRQ %d was BANNED.\n", irq);
@@ -347,7 +345,6 @@ void add_cl_banned_module(char *modname)
 static struct irq_info *add_one_irq_to_db(const char *devpath, int irq, struct user_irq_policy *pol)
 {
 	int irq_class = IRQ_OTHER;
-	int rc;
 	struct irq_info *new, find;
 	int numa_node;
 	char path[PATH_MAX];
@@ -378,7 +375,6 @@ static struct irq_info *add_one_irq_to_db(const char *devpath, int irq, struct u
 
 	new->irq = irq;
 	new->class = IRQ_OTHER;
-	new->hint_policy = pol->hintpolicy; 
 
 	interrupts_db = g_list_append(interrupts_db, new);
 
@@ -402,7 +398,7 @@ get_numa_node:
 		sprintf(path, "%s/numa_node", devpath);
 		fd = fopen(path, "r");
 		if (fd) {
-			rc = fscanf(fd, "%d", &numa_node);
+			fscanf(fd, "%d", &numa_node);
 			fclose(fd);
 		}
 	}
@@ -416,7 +412,7 @@ get_numa_node:
 	fd = fopen(path, "r");
 	if (!fd) {
 		cpus_setall(new->cpumask);
-		goto assign_affinity_hint;
+		goto out;
 	}
 	lcpu_mask = NULL;
 	ret = getline(&lcpu_mask, &blen, fd);
@@ -428,19 +424,6 @@ get_numa_node:
 	}
 	free(lcpu_mask);
 
-assign_affinity_hint:
-	cpus_clear(new->affinity_hint);
-	sprintf(path, "/proc/irq/%d/affinity_hint", irq);
-	fd = fopen(path, "r");
-	if (!fd)
-		goto out;
-	lcpu_mask = NULL;
-	ret = getline(&lcpu_mask, &blen, fd);
-	fclose(fd);
-	if (ret <= 0)
-		goto out;
-	cpumask_parse_user(lcpu_mask, ret, new->affinity_hint);
-	free(lcpu_mask);
 out:
 	log(TO_CONSOLE, LOG_INFO, "Adding IRQ %d to database\n", irq);
 	return new;
@@ -499,17 +482,6 @@ static void parse_user_policy_key(char *buf, int irq, struct user_irq_policy *po
 		}
 		pol->numa_node = idx;
 		pol->numa_node_set = 1;
-	} else if (!strcasecmp("hintpolicy", key)) {
-		if (!strcasecmp("exact", value))
-			pol->hintpolicy = HINT_POLICY_EXACT;
-		else if (!strcasecmp("subset", value))
-			pol->hintpolicy = HINT_POLICY_SUBSET;
-		else if (!strcasecmp("ignore", value))
-			pol->hintpolicy = HINT_POLICY_IGNORE;
-		else {
-			key_set = 0;
-			log(TO_ALL, LOG_WARNING, "Unknown value for hitpolicy: %s\n", value);
-		}
 	} else {
 		key_set = 0;
 		log(TO_ALL, LOG_WARNING, "Unknown key returned, ignoring: %s\n", key);
@@ -534,7 +506,6 @@ static void get_irq_user_policy(char *path, int irq, struct user_irq_policy *pol
 	char *brc;
 
 	memset(pol, -1, sizeof(struct user_irq_policy));
-	pol->hintpolicy = global_hint_policy;
 
 	/* Return defaults if no script was given */
 	if (!polscript)
@@ -575,7 +546,7 @@ static int check_for_module_ban(char *name)
 		return 0;
 }
 
-static int check_for_irq_ban(char *path, int irq, GList *proc_interrupts)
+static int check_for_irq_ban(char *path __attribute__((unused)), int irq, GList *proc_interrupts)
 {
 	struct irq_info find, *res;
 	GList *entry;
diff --git a/irqbalance.1 b/irqbalance.1
index 67b19bc..559ba85 100644
--- a/irqbalance.1
+++ b/irqbalance.1
@@ -49,21 +49,6 @@ Causes irqbalance to run in the foreground (without --debug).
 .B -j, --journal
 Enables log output optimized for systemd-journal.
 
-.TP
-.B -h, --hintpolicy=[exact | subset | ignore]
-Set the policy for how IRQ kernel affinity hinting is treated.  Can be one of:
-.P
-.I exact
-IRQ affinity hint is applied unilaterally and never violated.
-.P
-.I subset
-IRQ is balanced, but the assigned object will be a subset of the affinity hint.
-.P
-.I ignore
-IRQ affinity hint value is completely ignored.
-.P
-The default value for hintpolicy is ignore.
-
 .TP
 .B -p, --powerthresh=<threshold>
 Set the threshold at which we attempt to move a CPU into powersave mode
@@ -122,10 +107,6 @@ that irqbalance can bias IRQ affinity for these devices toward its most local
 node.  Note that specifying a -1 here forces irqbalance to consider an interrupt
 from a device to be equidistant from all nodes.
 .TP
-.I hintpolicy=[exact | subset | ignore ]
-This allows a user to override the globally set hintpolicy for a given irq.  Use
-is identical to the --hintpolicy setting, but applied per irq
-.TP
 .B -s, --pid=<file>
 Have irqbalance write its process id to the specified file.  By default no
 pidfile is written.  The written pidfile is automatically unlinked when
diff --git a/irqbalance.c b/irqbalance.c
index 2a230b2..2eeee24 100644
--- a/irqbalance.c
+++ b/irqbalance.c
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ int journal_logging = 0;
 int need_rescan;
 unsigned int log_mask = TO_ALL;
 const char *log_indent;
-enum hp_e global_hint_policy = HINT_POLICY_IGNORE;
 unsigned long power_thresh = ULONG_MAX;
 unsigned long deepest_cache = 2;
 unsigned long long cycle_count = 0;
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ static void parse_command_line(int argc, char **argv)
 	unsigned long val;
 
 	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv,
-		"odfjh:i:p:s:c:b:l:m:t:",
+		"odfji:p:s:c:b:l:m:t:",
 		lopts, &longind)) != -1) {
 
 		switch(opt) {
@@ -140,18 +139,6 @@ static void parse_command_line(int argc, char **argv)
 			case 'f':
 				foreground_mode=1;
 				break;
-			case 'h':
-				if (!strncmp(optarg, "exact", strlen(optarg)))
-					global_hint_policy = HINT_POLICY_EXACT;
-				else if (!strncmp(optarg, "subset", strlen(optarg)))
-					global_hint_policy = HINT_POLICY_SUBSET;
-				else if (!strncmp(optarg, "ignore", strlen(optarg)))
-					global_hint_policy = HINT_POLICY_IGNORE;
-				else {
-					usage();
-					exit(1);
-				}
-				break;
 			case 'i':
 				val = strtoull(optarg, NULL, 10);
 				if (val == ULONG_MAX) {
diff --git a/irqbalance.h b/irqbalance.h
index eea3827..d2d0f07 100644
--- a/irqbalance.h
+++ b/irqbalance.h
@@ -63,17 +63,10 @@ extern GList *cache_domains;
 extern GList *cpus;
 extern int numa_avail;
 
-enum hp_e {
-	HINT_POLICY_IGNORE,
-	HINT_POLICY_SUBSET,
-	HINT_POLICY_EXACT
-};
-
 extern int debug_mode;
 extern int journal_logging;
 extern int one_shot_mode;
 extern int need_rescan;
-extern enum hp_e global_hint_policy;
 extern unsigned long long cycle_count;
 extern unsigned long power_thresh;
 extern unsigned long deepest_cache;
diff --git a/irqlist.c b/irqlist.c
index 5037eca..f727e3d 100644
--- a/irqlist.c
+++ b/irqlist.c
@@ -77,13 +77,6 @@ static void move_candidate_irqs(struct irq_info *info, void *data)
 {
 	struct load_balance_info *lb_info = data;
 
-	/* never move an irq that has an afinity hint when 
- 	 * hint_policy is HINT_POLICY_EXACT 
- 	 */
-	if (info->hint_policy == HINT_POLICY_EXACT)
-		if (!cpus_empty(info->affinity_hint))
-			return;
-
 	/* Don't rebalance irqs that don't want it */
 	if (info->level == BALANCE_NONE)
 		return;
diff --git a/placement.c b/placement.c
index f476e02..5a82111 100644
--- a/placement.c
+++ b/placement.c
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ static void find_best_object(struct topo_obj *d, void *data)
 {
 	struct obj_placement *best = (struct obj_placement *)data;
 	uint64_t newload;
-	cpumask_t subset;
 
 	/*
  	 * Don't consider the unspecified numa node here
@@ -57,19 +56,6 @@ static void find_best_object(struct topo_obj *d, void *data)
 	    (!cpus_intersects(d->mask, unbanned_cpus)))
 		return;
 
-	/*
- 	 * If the hint policy is subset, then we only want 
- 	 * to consider objects that are within the irqs hint, but
- 	 * only if that irq in fact has published a hint
- 	 */
-	if (best->info->hint_policy == HINT_POLICY_SUBSET) {
-		if (!cpus_empty(best->info->affinity_hint)) {
-			cpus_and(subset, best->info->affinity_hint, d->mask);
-			if (cpus_empty(subset))
-				return;
-		}
-	}
-
 	if (d->powersave_mode)
 		return;
 
diff --git a/procinterrupts.c b/procinterrupts.c
index b70bfc2..6b37a88 100644
--- a/procinterrupts.c
+++ b/procinterrupts.c
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ GList* collect_full_irq_list()
 	char *line = NULL;
 	size_t size = 0;
 	char *irq_name, *irq_mod, *savedptr, *last_token, *p;
-	char *tmp;
 
 	file = fopen("/proc/interrupts", "r");
 	if (!file)
@@ -217,7 +216,6 @@ GList* collect_full_irq_list()
 				info->class = IRQ_OTHER;
 #endif
 			}
-			info->hint_policy = global_hint_policy;
 			info->name = strdupa(irq_mod);
 			tmp_list = g_list_append(tmp_list, info);
 		}