diff --git a/docs/Environment-Variables.md b/docs/Environment-Variables.md
index 69a4c8ada..bec58e1db 100644
--- a/docs/Environment-Variables.md
+++ b/docs/Environment-Variables.md
@@ -5,11 +5,6 @@ Users can set environmental variables to override Transmission's default behavio
  * If `TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME` is set, Transmission will look there for the [Web Interface](Web-Interface.md) files, such as the JavaScript, HTML, and graphics files.
  * If `TR_CURL_SSL_NO_VERIFY` is set, Transmission will not validate SSL certificate for HTTPS connections when talking to trackers. See CURL's documentation ([CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST](https://curl.se/libcurl/c/CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST.html) and [CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER](https://curl.se/libcurl/c/CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER.html)) for more details.
  * If `TR_CURL_VERBOSE` is set, debugging information for libcurl will be enabled.  More information about libcurl's debugging mode [is available here](https://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/curl_easy_setopt.html#CURLOPTVERBOSE).
- * If `TR_DEBUG_FD` is set to an integer, that integer is treated as a [file descriptor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_descriptor) and very verbose debugging information is written to it.  For example, here is how to turn on debugging and save it to a file named "runlog" when running Transmission from a bash shell:
-   ```console
-   $ export TR_DEBUG_FD=2
-   $ transmission 2>runlog
-   ```
  * If `TR_DHT_VERBOSE` is set, Transmission will log all of the DHT's activities in excruciating detail to standard error.
 
 ## Standard Variables Used by Transmission
diff --git a/libtransmission/log.cc b/libtransmission/log.cc
index 9e5e3b7d4..b90ebdb74 100644
--- a/libtransmission/log.cc
+++ b/libtransmission/log.cc
@@ -57,34 +57,6 @@ auto log_state = tr_log_state{};
 
 // ---
 
-tr_sys_file_t tr_logGetFile()
-{
-    static bool initialized = false;
-    static tr_sys_file_t file = TR_BAD_SYS_FILE;
-
-    if (!initialized)
-    {
-        switch (tr_env_get_int("TR_DEBUG_FD", 0))
-        {
-        case 1:
-            file = tr_sys_file_get_std(TR_STD_SYS_FILE_OUT);
-            break;
-
-        case 2:
-            file = tr_sys_file_get_std(TR_STD_SYS_FILE_ERR);
-            break;
-
-        default:
-            file = TR_BAD_SYS_FILE;
-            break;
-        }
-
-        initialized = true;
-    }
-
-    return file;
-}
-
 void logAddImpl(
     [[maybe_unused]] std::string_view file,
     [[maybe_unused]] long line,
@@ -159,16 +131,11 @@ void logAddImpl(
     }
     else
     {
-        tr_sys_file_t fp = tr_logGetFile();
+        static auto const fp = tr_sys_file_get_std(TR_STD_SYS_FILE_ERR);
 
         if (fp == TR_BAD_SYS_FILE)
         {
-            fp = tr_sys_file_get_std(TR_STD_SYS_FILE_ERR);
-            // if fp is still bad, do not write log
-            if (fp == TR_BAD_SYS_FILE)
-            {
-                return;
-            }
+            return;
         }
 
         auto timestr = std::array<char, 64>{};