diff --git a/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c b/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c
index 81f48c01fb..a905b7f56e 100644
--- a/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c
+++ b/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c,v 1.42 2007/09/11 17:15:33 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/postmaster/bgwriter.c,v 1.43 2007/09/16 16:33:04 tgl Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -189,7 +189,6 @@ BackgroundWriterMain(void)
 	sigjmp_buf	local_sigjmp_buf;
 	MemoryContext bgwriter_context;
 
-	Assert(BgWriterShmem != NULL);
 	BgWriterShmem->bgwriter_pid = MyProcPid;
 	am_bg_writer = true;
 
@@ -987,7 +986,6 @@ ForwardFsyncRequest(RelFileNode rnode, BlockNumber segno)
 
 	if (!IsUnderPostmaster)
 		return false;			/* probably shouldn't even get here */
-	Assert(BgWriterShmem != NULL);
 
 	LWLockAcquire(BgWriterCommLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE);
 	if (BgWriterShmem->bgwriter_pid == 0 ||