diff --git a/tools/cli/commands.js b/tools/cli/commands.js
index 6d6683b35af..574e73574b4 100644
--- a/tools/cli/commands.js
+++ b/tools/cli/commands.js
@@ -919,7 +919,6 @@ ${Console.command("meteor build ../output")}`,
       serverArch: bundleArch,
       buildMode: options.debug ? 'development' : 'production',
     },
-    providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps: !!process.env.METEOR_BINARY_DEP_WORKAROUND,
   });
   if (bundleResult.errors) {
     Console.error("Errors prevented bundling:");
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/bundler.js b/tools/isobuild/bundler.js
index 102c313dd0e..7c3bca8b7a1 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/bundler.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/bundler.js
@@ -223,7 +223,6 @@ export class NodeModulesDirectory {
     preferredBundlePath,
     local = false,
     npmDiscards = null,
-    writePackageJSON = false,
   }) {
     // Name of the package this node_modules directory belongs to, or null
     // if it belongs to an application.
@@ -250,9 +249,6 @@ export class NodeModulesDirectory {
 
     // Optionally, files to discard.
     this.npmDiscards = npmDiscards;
-
-    // Write a package.json file instead of copying the full directory.
-    this.writePackageJSON = writePackageJSON;
   }
 
   copy() {
@@ -315,7 +311,6 @@ export class NodeModulesDirectory {
   toJSON() {
     return {
       packageName: this.packageName,
-      writePackageJSON: this.writePackageJSON,
       local: this.local,
     };
   }
@@ -597,8 +592,6 @@ class Target {
     buildMode,
     // directory on disk where to store the cache for things like linker
     bundlerCacheDir,
-    // whether to substitute a package.json for unavailable binary deps
-    providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps,
     // ... see subclasses for additional options
   }) {
     this.packageMap = packageMap;
@@ -647,9 +640,6 @@ class Target {
     this.buildMode = buildMode || 'production';
 
     this.bundlerCacheDir = bundlerCacheDir;
-
-    this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps
-      = providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps;
   }
 
   // Top-level entry point for building a target. Generally to build a
@@ -755,9 +745,7 @@ class Target {
         if (p.testOnly && this.buildMode !== 'test') {
           return;
         }
-        const unibuild = p.getUnibuildAtArch(this.arch, {
-          allowWrongPlatform: this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps
-        });
+        const unibuild = p.getUnibuildAtArch(this.arch);
         unibuild && rootUnibuilds.push(unibuild);
       });
 
@@ -794,7 +782,6 @@ class Target {
           skipDebugOnly: this.buildMode === 'production',
           skipProdOnly: this.buildMode !== 'production',
           skipTestOnly: this.buildMode !== 'test',
-          allowWrongPlatform: this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps,
         }, addToGetsUsed);
       }.bind(this);
 
@@ -864,7 +851,6 @@ class Target {
           skipDebugOnly: this.buildMode === 'production',
           skipProdOnly: this.buildMode !== 'production',
           skipTestOnly: this.buildMode !== 'test',
-          allowWrongPlatform: this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps,
         }, processUnibuild);
         this.unibuilds.push(unibuild);
         delete needed[unibuild.id];
@@ -1003,35 +989,6 @@ class Target {
             }
 
             _.each(unibuild.nodeModulesDirectories, nmd => {
-              if (!archinfo.matches(this.arch, unibuild.arch)) {
-                // The unibuild we're trying to include doesn't work for the
-                // bundle target (eg, os.osx.x86_64 instead of os.linux.x86_64)!
-                // Hopefully this is because we specially enabled the feature
-                // that leads to this.
-                if (!this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps) {
-                  throw Error("mismatched arch without special feature enabled "
-                              + unibuild.pkg.name + " / " + this.arch + " / " +
-                              unibuild.arch);
-                }
-                if (!files.exists(
-                  files.pathJoin(nmd.sourcePath, '.package.json'))) {
-                  buildmessage.error(
-                    "Can't cross-compile package " +
-                      unibuild.pkg.name + ": missing .package.json");
-                  return;
-                }
-                if (!files.exists(
-                  files.pathJoin(nmd.sourcePath, '.npm-shrinkwrap.json'))) {
-                  buildmessage.error(
-                    "Can't cross-compile package " +
-                      unibuild.pkg.name + ": missing .npm-shrinkwrap.json");
-                  return;
-                }
-
-                nmd = nmd.copy();
-                nmd.writePackageJSON = true;
-              }
-
               this.nodeModulesDirectories[nmd.sourcePath] = nmd;
               f.nodeModulesDirectories[nmd.sourcePath] = nmd;
             });
@@ -1213,14 +1170,11 @@ class Target {
   // including anything that was specific to Linux, the return value
   // would be 'os'.
   mostCompatibleArch() {
-    let arches = _.pluck(this.unibuilds, 'arch');
-    if (this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps) {
-      // Filter out incompatible arches.
-      arches = arches.filter(
-        (arch) => archinfo.matches(this.arch, arch)
-      );
-    }
-    return archinfo.leastSpecificDescription(arches);
+    return archinfo.leastSpecificDescription(
+      _.pluck(this.unibuilds, 'arch').filter(
+        arch => archinfo.matches(this.arch, arch)
+      )
+    );
   }
 }
 
@@ -1468,8 +1422,6 @@ class JsImage {
 
     // Architecture required by this image
     this.arch = null;
-
-    this.providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps = false;
   }
 
   // Load the image into the current process. It gets its own unique
@@ -1880,29 +1832,7 @@ class JsImage {
         rebuildDirs[parentDir] = parentDir;
       }
 
-      if (nmd.writePackageJSON) {
-        // Make sure there's an empty node_modules directory at the right place
-        // in the tree (so that npm install puts modules there instead of
-        // elsewhere).
-        builder.reserve(
-          nmd.preferredBundlePath, {directory: true});
-        // We check that these source files exist in _emitResources when
-        // writePackageJSON is initially set.
-        builder.write(
-          files.pathJoin(files.pathDirname(nmd.preferredBundlePath),
-                         'package.json'),
-          { file: files.pathJoin(nmd.sourcePath, '.package.json') }
-        );
-        builder.write(
-          files.pathJoin(files.pathDirname(nmd.preferredBundlePath),
-                         'npm-shrinkwrap.json'),
-          { file: files.pathJoin(nmd.sourcePath, '.npm-shrinkwrap.json') }
-        );
-        // XXX does not support npmDiscards!
-
-        setupScriptPieces.push(
-          '(cd ', nmd.preferredBundlePath, ' && npm install)\n');
-      } else if (nmd.sourcePath !== nmd.preferredBundlePath) {
+      if (nmd.sourcePath !== nmd.preferredBundlePath) {
         builder.copyDirectory({
           from: nmd.sourcePath,
           to: nmd.preferredBundlePath,
@@ -2456,7 +2386,6 @@ exports.bundle = function ({
   buildOptions,
   previousBuilders,
   hasCachedBundle,
-  providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps
 }) {
   buildOptions = buildOptions || {};
 
@@ -2540,7 +2469,6 @@ exports.bundle = function ({
         releaseName: releaseName,
         appIdentifier: appIdentifier,
         buildMode: buildOptions.buildMode,
-        providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps
       };
       if (clientTargets) {
         targetOptions.clientTargets = clientTargets;
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/compiler-plugin.js b/tools/isobuild/compiler-plugin.js
index 3055eb697f2..c559152014d 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/compiler-plugin.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/compiler-plugin.js
@@ -681,9 +681,6 @@ export class PackageSourceBatch {
       skipDebugOnly: true,
       skipProdOnly: true,
       skipTestOnly: true,
-      // We only care about getting exports here, so it's OK if we get the Mac
-      // version when we're bundling for Linux.
-      allowWrongPlatform: true,
     }, depUnibuild => {
       _.each(depUnibuild.declaredExports, function (symbol) {
         // Slightly hacky implementation of test-only exports.
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/compiler.js b/tools/isobuild/compiler.js
index dbbacd2c046..7290af01fd0 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/compiler.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/compiler.js
@@ -700,9 +700,6 @@ function runLinters({inputSourceArch, isopackCache, sources,
     skipDebugOnly: true,
     skipProdOnly: true,
     skipTestOnly: true,
-    // We only care about getting exports here, so it's OK if we get the Mac
-    // version when we're bundling for Linux.
-    allowWrongPlatform: true,
   }, (unibuild) => {
     if (unibuild.pkg.name === inputSourceArch.pkg.name) {
       return;
@@ -866,7 +863,6 @@ compiler.eachUsedUnibuild = function (
   var dependencies = options.dependencies;
   var arch = options.arch;
   var isopackCache = options.isopackCache;
-  const allowWrongPlatform = options.allowWrongPlatform;
 
   var acceptableWeakPackages = options.acceptableWeakPackages || {};
 
@@ -906,7 +902,7 @@ compiler.eachUsedUnibuild = function (
       continue;
     }
 
-    var unibuild = usedPackage.getUnibuildAtArch(arch, {allowWrongPlatform});
+    var unibuild = usedPackage.getUnibuildAtArch(arch);
     if (!unibuild) {
       // The package exists but there's no unibuild for us. A buildmessage has
       // already been issued. Recover by skipping.
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/isopack.js b/tools/isobuild/isopack.js
index 901d142eb17..6782d452c02 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/isopack.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/isopack.js
@@ -460,19 +460,16 @@ _.extend(Isopack.prototype, {
   // Return the unibuild of the package to use for a given target architecture
   // (eg, 'os.linux.x86_64' or 'web'), or throw an exception if that
   // packages can't be loaded under these circumstances.
-  getUnibuildAtArch: Profile("Isopack#getUnibuildAtArch", function (
-    arch, {allowWrongPlatform} = {}) {
+  getUnibuildAtArch: Profile("Isopack#getUnibuildAtArch", function (arch) {
     var self = this;
 
     let chosenArch = archinfo.mostSpecificMatch(
       arch, _.pluck(self.unibuilds, 'arch'));
-    if (! chosenArch && allowWrongPlatform && arch.match(/^os\./)) {
-      // Special-case: we're looking for a specific server platform and it's
-      // not available. (eg, we're deploying from a Mac to Linux and are
-      // processing a local package with binary npm deps).  If we have "allow
-      // wrong platform" turned on, search again for the host version, which
-      // might find the Mac version.  We'll detect this case later and provide
-      // package.json instead of Mac binaries.
+    if (! chosenArch && arch.match(/^os\./)) {
+      // Special-case: we're looking for a specific server platform and
+      // it's not available. (eg, we're deploying from a Mac to Linux and
+      // are processing a local package with binary npm deps).  Search
+      // again for the host version, which might find the Mac version.
       chosenArch =
         archinfo.mostSpecificMatch(archinfo.host(), _.pluck(self.unibuilds, 'arch'));
     }
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js b/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
index 5dc13e45d69..cb506bcc4c4 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
@@ -234,15 +234,6 @@ var updateExistingNpmDirectory = function (packageName, newPackageNpmDir,
     }
   }
 
-  // If the node modules directory exists but doesn't have .package.json and
-  // .npm-shrinkwrap.json, recreate.  This is to ensure that
-  // providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps works.
-  if (files.exists(nodeModulesDir) &&
-      (!files.exists(files.pathJoin(nodeModulesDir, '.package.json')) ||
-       !files.exists(files.pathJoin(nodeModulesDir, '.npm-shrinkwrap.json')))) {
-    files.rm_recursive(nodeModulesDir);
-  }
-
   // Make sure node_modules is present (fix for #1761). Prevents npm install
   // from installing to an existing node_modules dir higher up in the
   // filesystem.  node_modules may be absent due to a change in Node version or
diff --git a/tools/meteor-services/deploy.js b/tools/meteor-services/deploy.js
index 060488c3c18..6f419404188 100644
--- a/tools/meteor-services/deploy.js
+++ b/tools/meteor-services/deploy.js
@@ -415,7 +415,6 @@ var bundleAndDeploy = function (options) {
       projectContext: options.projectContext,
       outputPath: bundlePath,
       buildOptions: options.buildOptions,
-      providePackageJSONForUnavailableBinaryDeps: !!process.env.METEOR_BINARY_DEP_WORKAROUND,
     });
 
     if (bundleResult.errors) {