diff --git a/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c b/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
index a353122fc26921422ac4841bf5f030a33d30f9af..a8a7e0197ae0db85b4b5b1af48ed08db30d5afe9 100644
--- a/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
+++ b/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c,v 1.425 2004/07/27 05:11:03 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c,v 1.426 2004/07/28 22:05:46 tgl Exp $
  *
  * NOTES
  *	  this is the "main" module of the postgres backend and
@@ -2932,10 +2932,7 @@ PostgresMain(int argc, char *argv[], const char *username)
 		/*
 		 * (3) read a command (loop blocks here)
 		 */
-		 if (!in_fatal_exit)
-			firstchar = ReadCommand(&input_message);
-		else
-			firstchar = EOF;
+		firstchar = ReadCommand(&input_message);
 
 		/*
 		 * (4) disable async signal conditions again.
@@ -3164,8 +3161,7 @@ PostgresMain(int argc, char *argv[], const char *username)
 				 * Otherwise it will fail to be called during other
 				 * backend-shutdown scenarios.
 				 */
-				proc_exit(!in_fatal_exit ? 0 : proc_exit_inprogress ||
-												!IsUnderPostmaster);
+				proc_exit(0);
 
 			case 'd':			/* copy data */
 			case 'c':			/* copy done */
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
index c70958a9de13192489e85a6a49f514e47368bef6..d2f9117059c17e62f010b7180f90fbaedef1d452 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c,v 1.142 2004/06/24 21:03:13 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c,v 1.143 2004/07/28 22:05:46 tgl Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -72,8 +72,6 @@ PGErrorVerbosity Log_error_verbosity = PGERROR_VERBOSE;
 char       *Log_line_prefix = NULL; /* format for extra log line info */
 unsigned int Log_destination = LOG_DESTINATION_STDERR;
 
-bool in_fatal_exit = false;
-
 #ifdef HAVE_SYSLOG
 char	   *Syslog_facility;	/* openlog() parameters */
 char	   *Syslog_ident;
@@ -444,16 +442,7 @@ errfinish(int dummy,...)
 			 */
 			fflush(stdout);
 			fflush(stderr);
-
-			if (in_fatal_exit)
-				ereport(PANIC, (errmsg("fatal error during fatal exit, giving up")));
-
-			/* not safe to longjump */
-			if (!Warn_restart_ready || proc_exit_inprogress)
-				proc_exit(proc_exit_inprogress || !IsUnderPostmaster);
-
-			/* We will exit the backend by simulating a client EOF */
-			in_fatal_exit = true;
+			proc_exit(proc_exit_inprogress || !IsUnderPostmaster);
 		}
 
 		/*
diff --git a/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h b/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h
index 0f55e9787fdf347c27e3598861c196865e81f5d9..7af3747c8bfd77d0e46d9f67dd2451168169edc5 100644
--- a/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h
+++ b/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2003, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
  *
- * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h,v 1.67 2004/06/11 01:09:22 tgl Exp $
+ * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/include/tcop/tcopprot.h,v 1.68 2004/07/28 22:05:47 tgl Exp $
  *
  * OLD COMMENTS
  *	  This file was created so that other c files could get the two
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ extern bool InError;
 extern CommandDest whereToSendOutput;
 extern DLLIMPORT const char *debug_query_string;
 extern int	max_stack_depth;
-extern bool in_fatal_exit;
 
 /* GUC-configurable parameters */