diff --git a/rust-bindings/rust/.gitlab-ci.yml b/rust-bindings/rust/.gitlab-ci.yml
index eb432c48..bef97f75 100644
--- a/rust-bindings/rust/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/rust-bindings/rust/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -65,13 +65,11 @@ pages:
 publish_libostree-sys:
   stage: publish
   script:
-  - make pre-package
   - cargo publish --verbose --manifest-path libostree-sys/Cargo.toml --token $CRATES_IO_TOKEN
   when: manual
 
 publish_libostree:
   stage: publish
   script:
-  - make pre-package
   - cargo publish --verbose --token $CRATES_IO_TOKEN
   when: manual
diff --git a/rust-bindings/rust/Makefile b/rust-bindings/rust/Makefile
index 09dccb8f..9676a755 100644
--- a/rust-bindings/rust/Makefile
+++ b/rust-bindings/rust/Makefile
@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@ all: generate-libostree-sys generate-libostree
 .PHONY: update-gir-files
 
 
-# -- cargo package helpers --
-pre-package:
-	cp LICENSE libostree-sys/
-	cp README.md LICENSE libostree/
-
-
 # -- gir generation --
 target/tools/bin/gir:
 	cargo install --root target/tools --git https://github.com/gtk-rs/gir.git -- gir