diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7bc2f4ad80939a58f0db535ea7f8b8329f5cea67..af6210d488368074f07ec28db54cecc3433df7d3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -306,8 +306,7 @@ LINUXINCLUDE    := -Iinclude \
 CPPFLAGS        := -D__KERNEL__ $(LINUXINCLUDE)
 
 CFLAGS 		:= -Wall -Wundef -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs \
-	  	   -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common \
-		   -ffreestanding
+	  	   -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common
 AFLAGS		:= -D__ASSEMBLY__
 
 # Read KERNELRELEASE from .kernelrelease (if it exists)
diff --git a/arch/i386/Makefile b/arch/i386/Makefile
index ff6973a85c8f538d843dc6dce95a717c32f4d673..c848a5b303918a9d6134b31e132b4d605879bbb1 100644
--- a/arch/i386/Makefile
+++ b/arch/i386/Makefile
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ include $(srctree)/arch/i386/Makefile.cpu
 
 cflags-$(CONFIG_REGPARM) += -mregparm=3
 
+# temporary until string.h is fixed
+cflags-y += -ffreestanding
+
 # Disable unit-at-a-time mode on pre-gcc-4.0 compilers, it makes gcc use
 # a lot more stack due to the lack of sharing of stacklots:
 CFLAGS				+= $(shell if [ $(call cc-version) -lt 0400 ] ; then echo $(call cc-option,-fno-unit-at-a-time); fi ;)
diff --git a/include/asm-x86_64/string.h b/include/asm-x86_64/string.h
index a3493ee282bb33222185a9febf2a4434f8b98dac..ee6bf275349e8b284b22e8a38257c33088677ab5 100644
--- a/include/asm-x86_64/string.h
+++ b/include/asm-x86_64/string.h
@@ -40,26 +40,15 @@ extern void *__memcpy(void *to, const void *from, size_t len);
 
 
 #define __HAVE_ARCH_MEMSET
-#define memset __builtin_memset
+void *memset(void *s, int c, size_t n);
 
 #define __HAVE_ARCH_MEMMOVE
 void * memmove(void * dest,const void *src,size_t count);
 
-/* Use C out of line version for memcmp */ 
-#define memcmp __builtin_memcmp
 int memcmp(const void * cs,const void * ct,size_t count);
-
-/* out of line string functions use always C versions */ 
-#define strlen __builtin_strlen
 size_t strlen(const char * s);
-
-#define strcpy __builtin_strcpy
-char * strcpy(char * dest,const char *src);
-
-#define strcat __builtin_strcat
-char * strcat(char * dest, const char * src);
-
-#define strcmp __builtin_strcmp
+char *strcpy(char * dest,const char *src);
+char *strcat(char * dest, const char * src);
 int strcmp(const char * cs,const char * ct);
 
 #endif /* __KERNEL__ */