diff --git a/library/init/meta/rec_util.lean b/library/init/meta/rec_util.lean
deleted file mode 100644
index 8aef15ddd2..0000000000
--- a/library/init/meta/rec_util.lean
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,120 +0,0 @@
-/-
-Copyright (c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
-Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
-Authors: Leonardo de Moura
-
-Helper tactic for showing that a type has decidable equality.
--/
-prelude
-import init.meta.tactic init.data.option.basic
-
-namespace tactic
-open expr
-
-/-- Return tt iff e's type is of the form `(I_name ...)` -/
-meta def is_type_app_of (e : expr) (I_name : name) : tactic bool :=
-do t ← infer_type e,
-   return $ is_constant_of (get_app_fn t) I_name
-
-/- Auxiliary function for using brec_on "dictionary" -/
-private meta def mk_rec_inst_aux : expr → nat → tactic expr
-| F 0     := do
-  P ← mk_app `pprod.fst [F],
-  mk_app `pprod.fst [P]
-| F (n+1) := do
-  F' ← mk_app `pprod.snd [F],
-  mk_rec_inst_aux F' n
-
-/-- Construct brec_on "recursive value". F_name is the name of the brec_on "dictionary".
-   Type of the F_name hypothesis should be of the form (below (C ...)) where C is a constructor.
-   The result is the "recursive value" for the (i+1)-th recursive value of the constructor C. -/
-meta def mk_brec_on_rec_value (F_name : name) (i : nat) : tactic expr :=
-do F ← get_local F_name,
-   mk_rec_inst_aux F i
-
-meta def constructor_num_fields (c : name) : tactic nat :=
-do env     ← get_env,
-   decl    ← env.get c,
-   ctype   ← return decl.type,
-   arity   ← get_pi_arity ctype,
-   I       ← env.inductive_type_of c,
-   nparams ← return (env.inductive_num_params I),
-   return $ arity - nparams
-
-private meta def mk_name_list_aux : name → nat → nat → list name → list name × nat
-| p i 0     l := (list.reverse l, i)
-| p i (j+1) l := mk_name_list_aux p (i+1) j (mk_num_name p i :: l)
-
-private meta def mk_name_list (p : name) (i : nat) (n : nat) : list name × nat :=
-mk_name_list_aux p i n []
-
-/-- Return a list of names of the form [p.i, ..., p.{i+n}] where n is
-   the number of fields of the constructor c -/
-meta def mk_constructor_arg_names (c : name) (p : name) (i : nat) : tactic (list name × nat) :=
-do nfields ← constructor_num_fields c,
-   return $ mk_name_list p i nfields
-
-private meta def mk_constructors_arg_names_aux : list name → name → nat → list (list name) → tactic (list (list name))
-| []      p i r := return (list.reverse r)
-| (c::cs) p i r := do
-  v : list name × nat ← mk_constructor_arg_names c p i,
-  match v with (l, i') := mk_constructors_arg_names_aux cs p i' (l :: r)
-
-/-- Given an inductive datatype I with k constructors and where constructor i has n_i fields,
-   return the list [[p.1, ..., p.n_1], [p.{n_1 + 1}, ..., p.{n_1 + n_2}], ..., [..., p.{n_1 + ... + n_k}]] -/
-meta def mk_constructors_arg_names (I : name) (p : name) : tactic (list (list name)) :=
-do env ← get_env,
-   cs  ← return $ env.constructors_of I,
-   mk_constructors_arg_names_aux cs p 1 []
-
-private meta def mk_fresh_arg_name_aux : name → nat → name_set → tactic (name × name_set)
-| n i s :=
-  do r ← get_unused_name n (some i),
-     if s.contains r then
-        mk_fresh_arg_name_aux n (i+1) s
-     else
-        return (r, s.insert r)
-
-private meta def mk_fresh_arg_name (n : name) (s : name_set) : tactic (name × name_set) :=
-do r ← get_unused_name n,
-   if s.contains r then
-      mk_fresh_arg_name_aux n 1 s
-   else
-      return (r, s.insert r)
-
-private meta def mk_constructor_fresh_names_aux : nat → expr → name_set → tactic (list name × name_set)
-| nparams ty s := do
-  ty ← whnf ty,
-  match ty with
-  | expr.pi n bi d b :=
-     if nparams = 0 then do {
-       (n', s') ← mk_fresh_arg_name n s,
-       x        ← mk_local' n' bi d,
-       let ty' := b.instantiate_var x,
-       (ns, s'') ← mk_constructor_fresh_names_aux 0 ty' s',
-       return (n'::ns, s'')
-     } else do {
-       x        ← mk_local' n bi d,
-       let ty' := b.instantiate_var x,
-       mk_constructor_fresh_names_aux (nparams - 1) ty' s
-     }
-  | _ := return ([], s)
-
-meta def mk_constructor_fresh_names (nparams : nat) (c : name) (s : name_set) : tactic (list name × name_set) :=
-do d    ← get_decl c,
-   let t := d.type,
-   mk_constructor_fresh_names_aux nparams t s
-
-private meta def mk_constructors_fresh_names_aux : nat → list name → name_set → list (list name) → tactic (list (list name))
-| np []      s r := return (list.reverse r)
-| np (c::cs) s r := do
-  (ns, s') ← mk_constructor_fresh_names np c s,
-  mk_constructors_fresh_names_aux np cs s' (ns::r)
-
-meta def mk_constructors_fresh_names (I : name) : tactic (list (list name)) :=
-do env ← get_env,
-   let cs := env.constructors_of I,
-   let nparams := env.inductive_num_params I,
-   mk_constructors_fresh_names_aux nparams cs mk_name_set []
-
-end tactic
diff --git a/library/init/meta/tactic.lean b/library/init/meta/tactic.lean
index ef228080f9..313780b9ad 100644
--- a/library/init/meta/tactic.lean
+++ b/library/init/meta/tactic.lean
@@ -1004,20 +1004,6 @@ return $ expr.mk_sorry t
 meta def admit : tactic unit :=
 target >>= exact ∘ expr.mk_sorry
 
-meta def mk_local' (pp_name : name) (bi : binder_info) (type : expr) : tactic expr := do
-uniq_name ← mk_fresh_name,
-return $ expr.local_const uniq_name pp_name bi type
-
-meta def mk_local_def (pp_name : name) (type : expr) : tactic expr :=
-mk_local' pp_name binder_info.default type
-
-meta def mk_local_pis : expr → tactic (list expr × expr)
-| (expr.pi n bi d b) := do
-  p ← mk_local' n bi d,
-  (ps, r) ← mk_local_pis (expr.instantiate_var b p),
-  return ((p :: ps), r)
-| e := return ([], e)
-
 private meta def get_pi_arity_aux : expr → tactic nat
 | (expr.pi n bi d b) :=
   do m     ← mk_fresh_name,