diff --git a/src/klayout_main/klayout_main/klayout.cc b/src/klayout_main/klayout_main/klayout.cc
index 7050f0074..0e90505c4 100644
--- a/src/klayout_main/klayout_main/klayout.cc
+++ b/src/klayout_main/klayout_main/klayout.cc
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
 #include "version.h"
 
 //  required to force linking of the "ext" and "lib" module
-#include "extForceLink.h"
 #include "libForceLink.h"
 #include "antForceLink.h"
 #include "imgForceLink.h"
diff --git a/src/pymod/lay/layMain.cc b/src/pymod/lay/layMain.cc
index e43fd734f..36f6e51a8 100644
--- a/src/pymod/lay/layMain.cc
+++ b/src/pymod/lay/layMain.cc
@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@
 //  to force linking of the lay module
 #include "../../lay/lay/layForceLink.h"
 
-//  to force linking of the ext module
-#include "../../ext/ext/extForceLink.h"
-
 //  NOTE: img, ant, edt and rdb don't need to be force-linked
 //  as they are hard-linked by lay
 
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/unit_test_main.cc b/src/unit_tests/unit_test_main.cc
index 1c90f2f68..0e2ee691e 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests/unit_test_main.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests/unit_test_main.cc
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
 #endif
 
 //  required to force linking of the "ext", "lib" and "drc" module
-#include "extForceLink.h"
 #include "libForceLink.h"
 #if defined(HAVE_RUBY)
 #include "drcForceLink.h"