diff --git a/tools/qfcc/include/dags.h b/tools/qfcc/include/dags.h
index c3ff13502..21ac8c943 100644
--- a/tools/qfcc/include/dags.h
+++ b/tools/qfcc/include/dags.h
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ typedef struct dag_s {
 	dagnode_t **nodes;			///< array of all dagnodes in this dag
 	int         num_nodes;
 	int        *topo;			///< nodes in topological sort order
+	int         num_topo;		///< number of nodes in topo (may be <
+								///< num_nodes after dead node removal)
 	daglabel_t **labels;		///< array of all daglabels in this dag
 	int         num_labels;;
 	struct set_s *roots;		///< set of root nodes
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ void dot_dump_dag (void *_dag, const char *filename);
 */
 dag_t *dag_create (struct flownode_s *flownode);
 
+void dag_remove_dead_nodes (dag_t *dag);
 void dag_generate (dag_t *dag, sblock_t *block);
 
 //@}
diff --git a/tools/qfcc/source/dags.c b/tools/qfcc/source/dags.c
index 3759720b5..b19a90aa1 100644
--- a/tools/qfcc/source/dags.c
+++ b/tools/qfcc/source/dags.c
@@ -551,12 +551,19 @@ dag_sort_nodes (dag_t *dag)
 	set_iter_t *root_iter;
 	set_t      *visited = set_new ();
 	int         topo = 0;
+	int        *tmp_topo;
 
-	dag->topo = malloc (dag->num_nodes * sizeof (int));
+	if (dag->topo)
+		free (dag->topo);
+	dag->topo = alloca (dag->num_nodes * sizeof (int));
 	for (root_iter = set_first (dag->roots); root_iter;
 		 root_iter = set_next (root_iter))
 		dag_sort_visit (dag, visited, root_iter->element, &topo);
 	set_delete (visited);
+	tmp_topo = malloc (topo * sizeof (int));
+	memcpy (tmp_topo, dag->topo, topo * sizeof (int));
+	dag->topo = tmp_topo;
+	dag->num_topo = topo;
 }
 
 static void
@@ -893,11 +900,50 @@ dag_gencode (dag_t *dag, sblock_t *block, dagnode_t *dagnode)
 	dagnode->value = dst;
 }
 
+void
+dag_remove_dead_nodes (dag_t *dag)
+{
+	int         added_root;
+	set_iter_t *root_i, *child_i;
+	dagnode_t  *node, *child;
+
+	do {
+		added_root = 0;
+		for (root_i = set_first (dag->roots); root_i;
+			 root_i = set_next (root_i)) {
+			node = dag->nodes[root_i->element];
+			// only st_none (leaf nodes), st_expr and st_move can become
+			// dead nodes (no live vars attached).
+			if (node->type != st_none && node->type != st_expr
+				&& node->type != st_move)
+				continue;
+			if (!set_is_empty (node->identifiers))
+				continue;
+			// MOVEP with a variable destination pointer is never dead
+			if (node->type == st_move && node->children[3])
+				continue;
+			set_remove (dag->roots, node->number);
+			for (child_i = set_first (node->edges); child_i;
+				 child_i = set_next (child_i)) {
+				child = dag->nodes[child_i->element];
+				if (!set_is_member (child->parents, node->number))
+					continue;	// not really a child (dependency edge)
+				set_remove (child->parents, node->number);
+				if (set_is_empty (child->parents)) {
+					set_add (dag->roots, child->number);
+					added_root = 1;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	} while (added_root);
+	dag_sort_nodes (dag);
+}
+
 void
 dag_generate (dag_t *dag, sblock_t *block)
 {
 	int         i;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < dag->num_nodes; i++)
+	for (i = 0; i < dag->num_topo; i++)
 		dag_gencode (dag, block, dag->nodes[dag->topo[i]]);
 }
diff --git a/tools/qfcc/source/dot_dag.c b/tools/qfcc/source/dot_dag.c
index 2c3f88386..bf0e26c63 100644
--- a/tools/qfcc/source/dot_dag.c
+++ b/tools/qfcc/source/dot_dag.c
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@ print_node (dstring_t *dstr, dag_t *dag, dagnode_t *node)
 	set_t      *edges = set_new ();
 	set_iter_t *edge_iter;
 
+	if (!set_is_member (dag->roots, node->number)
+		&& set_is_empty (node->parents))
+		return;
 	set_assign (edges, node->edges);
 	for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
 		if (node->children[i]) {
diff --git a/tools/qfcc/source/flow.c b/tools/qfcc/source/flow.c
index f7c6fc9b0..9f2c74d60 100644
--- a/tools/qfcc/source/flow.c
+++ b/tools/qfcc/source/flow.c
@@ -714,6 +714,20 @@ flow_build_dags (flowgraph_t *graph)
 		dump_dot ("dags", graph, dump_dot_flow_dags);
 }
 
+static void
+flow_cleanup_dags (flowgraph_t *graph)
+{
+	int         i;
+	flownode_t *node;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < graph->num_nodes; i++) {
+		node = graph->nodes[i];
+		dag_remove_dead_nodes (node->dag);
+	}
+	if (options.block_dot.dags)
+		dump_dot ("cleaned-dags", graph, dump_dot_flow_dags);
+}
+
 static sblock_t *
 flow_generate (flowgraph_t *graph)
 {
@@ -1253,5 +1267,6 @@ flow_data_flow (function_t *func)
 		dump_dot ("live", graph, dump_dot_flow_live);
 	flow_uninitialized (graph);
 	flow_build_dags (graph);
+	flow_cleanup_dags (graph);
 	func->sblock = flow_generate (graph);
 }