diff --git a/src/apk.c b/src/apk.c
index ee6690f..76c1e4e 100644
--- a/src/apk.c
+++ b/src/apk.c
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ static struct apk_option generic_options[] = {
 	{ 0x108, "repositories-file", "Override repositories file",
 				required_argument, "REPOFILE" },
 	{ 0x109, "no-network",	"Do not use network (cache is still used)" },
-	{ 0x110, "never-overwrite", "Never overwrite existing files" },
 	{ 0x111, "overlay-from-stdin", "Read list of overlay files from stdin" },
 };
 
@@ -386,9 +385,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		case 0x109:
 			apk_flags |= APK_NO_NETWORK;
 			break;
-		case 0x110:
-			apk_flags |= APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE;
-			break;
 		case 0x111:
 			apk_flags |= APK_OVERLAY_FROM_STDIN;
 			break;
diff --git a/src/apk_defines.h b/src/apk_defines.h
index 2e93151..7414159 100644
--- a/src/apk_defines.h
+++ b/src/apk_defines.h
@@ -64,8 +64,7 @@ extern unsigned int apk_flags;
 #define APK_INTERACTIVE		0x0400
 #define APK_RECURSIVE_DELETE	0x0800
 #define APK_NO_NETWORK		0x1000
-#define APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE	0x2000
-#define APK_OVERLAY_FROM_STDIN	0x4000
+#define APK_OVERLAY_FROM_STDIN	0x2000
 
 #define apk_error(args...)	do { apk_log("ERROR: ", args); } while (0)
 #define apk_warning(args...)	do { if (apk_verbosity > 0) { apk_log("WARNING: ", args); } } while (0)
diff --git a/src/archive.c b/src/archive.c
index a2707cd..b27c039 100644
--- a/src/archive.c
+++ b/src/archive.c
@@ -343,18 +343,7 @@ int apk_archive_entry_extract(int atfd, const struct apk_file_info *ae,
 	if ((!S_ISDIR(ae->mode) && !S_ISREG(ae->mode)) ||
 	    (ae->link_target != NULL)) {
 		/* non-standard entries need to be deleted first */
-		if (apk_flags & APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE) {
-			if (faccessat(atfd, ae->name, F_OK,
-				      AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) == 0) {
-				/* destination exists, but we are not supposed
-				 * to overwrite, just clean the temp file */
-				if (suffix != NULL)
-					unlinkat(atfd, fn, 0);
-				return 0;
-			}
-		} else {
-			unlinkat(atfd, fn, 0);
-		}
+		unlinkat(atfd, fn, 0);
 	}
 
 	switch (ae->mode & S_IFMT) {
@@ -367,14 +356,8 @@ int apk_archive_entry_extract(int atfd, const struct apk_file_info *ae,
 		if (ae->link_target == NULL) {
 			int flags = O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC;
 
-			if (apk_flags & APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE)
-				flags |= O_EXCL;
-
 			fd = openat(atfd, fn, flags, ae->mode & 07777);
 			if (fd < 0) {
-				if ((apk_flags & APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE) &&
-				    (errno == EEXIST))
-					return 0;
 				r = -1;
 				break;
 			}
diff --git a/src/database.c b/src/database.c
index fef25f8..debe897 100644
--- a/src/database.c
+++ b/src/database.c
@@ -1942,11 +1942,9 @@ static void apk_db_migrate_files(struct apk_database *db,
 				     apk_checksum_compare(&file->csum, &fi.csum) == 0))
 					unlinkat(db->root_fd, tmpname, 0);
 			} else {
-				/* check if want keep existing files */
-				if ((ofile->name == NULL) ||
-				    ((apk_flags & APK_NEVER_OVERWRITE) &&
-				     (faccessat(db->root_fd, name, F_OK,
-					        AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) == 0))) {
+				if (ofile->name == NULL) {
+					/* File was from overlay, delete the
+					 * packages version */
 					unlinkat(db->root_fd, tmpname, 0);
 				} else {
 					/* Overwrite the old file */