diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 438f6d863..c3c5e83ce 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1196,10 +1196,6 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([erange_fill],
 dnl Always build with relaxed coord bound checking, to prevent API
 dnl incompatibilities between different installs of netCDF.
 enable_zero_length_coord_bound=yes
-dnl AC_ARG_ENABLE([zero-length-coord-bound],
-dnl    [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-zero-length-coord-bound],
-dnl                    [Disable relaxed boundary error check. Deprecated. Using this can cause API incompatibilities. This option will be removed in the next release of netCDF.])])
-dnl test "x$enable_zero_length_coord_bound" = xno || enable_zero_length_coord_bound=yes
 
 # check PnetCDF's settings on enable_erange_fill and relax_coord_bound
 if test "x$enable_pnetcdf" = xyes; then
@@ -1425,7 +1421,7 @@ AC_SUBST(HAS_PARALLEL4,[$enable_parallel4])
 AC_SUBST(HAS_DISKLESS,[yes])
 AC_SUBST(HAS_MMAP,[$enable_mmap])
 AC_SUBST(HAS_JNA,[$enable_jna])
-AC_SUBST(RELAX_COORD_BOUND,[$enable_zero_length_coord_bound])
+#AC_SUBST(RELAX_COORD_BOUND,[$enable_zero_length_coord_bound])
 AC_SUBST(HAS_ERANGE_FILL,[$enable_erange_fill])
 AC_SUBST(HAS_BYTERANGE,[$enable_byterange])
 
diff --git a/libnetcdf.settings.in b/libnetcdf.settings.in
index fbe5853b2..50070720f 100644
--- a/libnetcdf.settings.in
+++ b/libnetcdf.settings.in
@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ MMap Support:		@HAS_MMAP@
 JNA Support:		@HAS_JNA@
 CDF5 Support:		@HAS_CDF5@
 ERANGE Fill Support:	@HAS_ERANGE_FILL@
-Relaxed Boundary Check:	@RELAX_COORD_BOUND@
+Relaxed Boundary Check:	yes
diff --git a/libsrc/putget.m4 b/libsrc/putget.m4
index ebd0fc04a..dcbb91981 100644
--- a/libsrc/putget.m4
+++ b/libsrc/putget.m4
@@ -498,11 +498,7 @@ NCcoordck(NC3_INFO* ncp, const NC_var *varp, const size_t *coord)
 	{
 		if(*coord > X_UINT_MAX) /* rkr: bug fix from previous X_INT_MAX */
 			return NC_EINVALCOORDS; /* sanity check */
-#ifdef RELAX_COORD_BOUND
 		if(NC_readonly(ncp) && *coord > NC_get_numrecs(ncp))
-#else
-		if(NC_readonly(ncp) && *coord >= NC_get_numrecs(ncp))
-#endif
 		{
 			if(!NC_doNsync(ncp))
 				return NC_EINVALCOORDS;
@@ -512,11 +508,7 @@ NCcoordck(NC3_INFO* ncp, const NC_var *varp, const size_t *coord)
 				const int status = read_numrecs(ncp);
 				if(status != NC_NOERR)
 					return status;
-#ifdef RELAX_COORD_BOUND
 				if(*coord > NC_get_numrecs(ncp))
-#else
-				if(*coord >= NC_get_numrecs(ncp))
-#endif
 					return NC_EINVALCOORDS;
 			}
 		}
@@ -543,11 +535,7 @@ fprintf(stderr,"	NCcoordck: ip %p, *ip %ld, up %p, *up %lu\n",
 #endif /* CDEBUG */
 
 		/* cast needed for braindead systems with signed size_t */
-#ifdef RELAX_COORD_BOUND
 		if((unsigned long) *ip > (unsigned long) *up )
-#else
-		if((unsigned long) *ip >= (unsigned long) *up )
-#endif
 			return NC_EINVALCOORDS;
 	}
 
@@ -571,11 +559,9 @@ NCedgeck(const NC3_INFO* ncp, const NC_var *varp,
 
 	if(IS_RECVAR(varp))
 	{
-#ifdef RELAX_COORD_BOUND
 		if (NC_readonly(ncp) &&
                     (start[0] == NC_get_numrecs(ncp) && edges[0] > 0))
 			return(NC_EINVALCOORDS);
-#endif
 		start++;
 		edges++;
 		shp++;
@@ -583,10 +569,8 @@ NCedgeck(const NC3_INFO* ncp, const NC_var *varp,
 
 	for(; start < end; start++, edges++, shp++)
 	{
-#ifdef RELAX_COORD_BOUND
 		if ((unsigned long) *start == *shp && *edges > 0)
 			return(NC_EINVALCOORDS);
-#endif
 		/* cast needed for braindead systems with signed size_t */
 		if((unsigned long) *edges > *shp ||
 			(unsigned long) *start + (unsigned long) *edges > *shp)