diff --git a/include/QF/sound.h b/include/QF/sound.h
index 71f4a0eb5..99106e56e 100644
--- a/include/QF/sound.h
+++ b/include/QF/sound.h
@@ -182,7 +182,6 @@ extern	cvar_t *bgmvolume;
 extern	cvar_t *volume;
 
 extern	cvar_t	*snd_device;
-extern	cvar_t	*snd_oss_rw;
 extern	cvar_t	*snd_rate;
 extern	cvar_t	*snd_bits;
 extern	cvar_t	*snd_stereo;
diff --git a/libs/audio/targets/snd_dma.c b/libs/audio/targets/snd_dma.c
index fbee82cc2..74af889a4 100644
--- a/libs/audio/targets/snd_dma.c
+++ b/libs/audio/targets/snd_dma.c
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ extern cvar_t     *bgmvolume;
 extern cvar_t     *volume;
 
 cvar_t     *snd_device;
-cvar_t     *snd_oss_rw;
 cvar_t     *snd_rate;
 cvar_t     *snd_bits;
 cvar_t     *snd_stereo;
@@ -285,9 +284,6 @@ I_S_Init_Cvars (void)
 {
 	snd_device = Cvar_Get ("snd_device", "", CVAR_ROM, NULL,
 						   "sound device. \"\" is system default");
-	snd_oss_rw = Cvar_Get ("snd_oss_rw", "0", CVAR_ROM, NULL,
-						   "open the oss device in r/w mode instead of w/o"
-						   " (for braindead(?) drivers)");
 	snd_rate = Cvar_Get ("snd_rate", "0", CVAR_ROM, NULL,
 						 "sound playback rate. 0 is system default");
 	snd_bits = Cvar_Get ("snd_bits", "0", CVAR_ROM, NULL,
diff --git a/libs/audio/targets/snd_oss.c b/libs/audio/targets/snd_oss.c
index ff578aaa2..edba9d82d 100644
--- a/libs/audio/targets/snd_oss.c
+++ b/libs/audio/targets/snd_oss.c
@@ -107,8 +107,6 @@ SNDDMA_Init (void)
 	struct audio_buf_info info;
 	int         caps;
 	int         retries = 3;
-	int         omode = O_WRONLY;
-	int         mmmode = PROT_WRITE;
 
 	snd_inited = 0;
 
@@ -116,18 +114,13 @@ SNDDMA_Init (void)
 	if (snd_device->string[0])
 		snd_dev = snd_device->string;
 
-	if (snd_oss_rw->int_val) {
-	    omode = O_RDWR;
-		mmmode |= PROT_READ;
-	}
-
-	audio_fd = open (snd_dev, omode);
+	audio_fd = open (snd_dev, O_RDWR);
 	if (audio_fd < 0) {					// Failed open, retry up to 3 times
 		// if it's busy
 		while ((audio_fd < 0) && retries-- &&
 			   ((errno == EAGAIN) || (errno == EBUSY))) {
 			sleep (1);
-			audio_fd = open (snd_dev, omode);
+			audio_fd = open (snd_dev, O_RDWR);
 		}
 		if (audio_fd < 0) {
 			perror (snd_dev);
@@ -202,7 +195,7 @@ SNDDMA_Init (void)
 	// memory map the dma buffer
 	shm->buffer = (unsigned char *) mmap (NULL, info.fragstotal
 										  * info.fragsize,
-										  mmmode,
+										  PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
 										  MAP_FILE | MAP_SHARED, audio_fd, 0);
 
 	if (shm->buffer == MAP_FAILED) {