diff --git a/ivl_assert.h b/ivl_assert.h
index 1a1aa8a16..2860728c2 100644
--- a/ivl_assert.h
+++ b/ivl_assert.h
@@ -20,21 +20,14 @@
 #ifndef __ivl_assert_h
 #define __ivl_assert_h
 
-# include  <cassert>
+# include  <cstdlib>
 
 #define ivl_assert(tok, expression)  \
-      do {			    \
-	    if (! (expression))     \
-		  __ivl_assert(#expression, tok, __FILE__, __LINE__);	\
-      } while(0)
-
-#define __ivl_assert(expression, tok, file, line)  \
-      do { \
+      if (! (expression)) { \
 	    cerr << (tok).get_fileline() << ": assert: " \
-		 << file << ":" << line \
-		 << ": failed assertion " << (expression) << endl; \
+		 << __FILE__ << ":" << __LINE__ \
+		 << ": failed assertion " << #expression << endl; \
 	    abort(); \
-      } while(0)
-
+      }
 
 #endif