diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index bfb481e75e..0fb925d648 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <strings.h>
 #include <limits.h> /* PATH_MAX */
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -13,12 +14,6 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <unistd.h> /* setuid, getuid */
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
-
 #include <node_buffer.h>
 #include <node_io_watcher.h>
 #include <node_net2.h>
diff --git a/src/node_buffer.cc b/src/node_buffer.cc
index bae738bf63..d757b9623c 100644
--- a/src/node_buffer.cc
+++ b/src/node_buffer.cc
@@ -4,13 +4,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h> // malloc, free
 #include <v8.h>
 
-// memcpy
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
-
+#include <string.h> // memcpy
 
 #include <arpa/inet.h>  // htons, htonl
 
diff --git a/src/node_child_process.cc b/src/node_child_process.cc
index d240d6fbf7..6c84514e14 100644
--- a/src/node_child_process.cc
+++ b/src/node_child_process.cc
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <node.h>
 
 #include <assert.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -12,12 +13,6 @@
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #endif
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
-
 extern char **environ;
 
 namespace node {
diff --git a/src/node_crypto.cc b/src/node_crypto.cc
index 50519b4279..284ae4996d 100644
--- a/src/node_crypto.cc
+++ b/src/node_crypto.cc
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@
 #include <node.h>
 #include <node_buffer.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
+#include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 #include <errno.h>
diff --git a/src/node_events.cc b/src/node_events.cc
index 4148ea010f..c43225a528 100644
--- a/src/node_events.cc
+++ b/src/node_events.cc
@@ -3,18 +3,14 @@
 
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <strings.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <netdb.h>
 #include <arpa/inet.h> /* inet_ntop */
 #include <netinet/in.h> /* sockaddr_in, sockaddr_in6 */
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
-
 #include <node.h>
 #include <ev.h>
 #include <v8.h>
diff --git a/src/node_file.cc b/src/node_file.cc
index b1cbd9b044..f9fd27c122 100644
--- a/src/node_file.cc
+++ b/src/node_file.cc
@@ -10,15 +10,10 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <assert.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
-
 /* used for readlink, AIX doesn't provide it */
 #ifndef PATH_MAX
 #define PATH_MAX 4096
diff --git a/src/node_net2.cc b/src/node_net2.cc
index d9d485ce7a..865bf7c506 100644
--- a/src/node_net2.cc
+++ b/src/node_net2.cc
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@
 #include <node.h>
 #include <node_buffer.h>
 
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
+#include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/src/node_stat_watcher.cc b/src/node_stat_watcher.cc
index 816ec961ca..88ae9c6940 100644
--- a/src/node_stat_watcher.cc
+++ b/src/node_stat_watcher.cc
@@ -2,12 +2,8 @@
 #include <node_stat_watcher.h>
 
 #include <assert.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
 
 namespace node {
 
diff --git a/src/node_stdio.cc b/src/node_stdio.cc
index fab00aeeac..c27e6f3726 100644
--- a/src/node_stdio.cc
+++ b/src/node_stdio.cc
@@ -3,11 +3,7 @@
 
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
-#ifdef HAVE_STRINGS_H
-# include <strings.h>
-#else
-# include <string.h>
-#endif
+#include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
 using namespace v8;
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index fab15b235f..fb632a67da 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -114,8 +114,6 @@ def configure(conf):
   conf.env["USE_DEBUG"] = Options.options.debug
   conf.env["USE_SYSTEM"] = Options.options.system
 
-  conf.check_cc(header_name="strings.h")
-
   conf.check(lib='dl', uselib_store='DL')
   if not sys.platform.startswith("sunos"):
     conf.env.append_value("CCFLAGS", "-rdynamic")