diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 2b5189252c..b93150ca59 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ This file contains a high-level description of this package's evolution. Release
 
 ## 4.9.3 - TBD
 
+
+* Remove the use of execinfo to programmatically dump the stack; it never worked. See [Github #2789](https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/pull/2789).
 * Update the internal copy of tinyxml2 to latest code. See [Github #2771](https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/pull/2771).
 * Mitigate the problem of remote/nczarr-related test interference. See [Github #2755](https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/pull/2755).
 * Fix DAP2 proxy problems. See [Github #2764](https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/pull/2764).
diff --git a/config.h.cmake.in b/config.h.cmake.in
index 04d876ff17..233c2f1e27 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake.in
+++ b/config.h.cmake.in
@@ -462,9 +462,6 @@ with zip */
 /* if true, HDF5 is at least version 1.10.5 and supports UTF8 paths */
 #cmakedefine HDF5_UTF8_PATHS 1
 
-/* if true, backtrace support will be used. */
-#cmakedefine HAVE_EXECINFO_H 1
-
 /* if true, include JNA bug fix */
 #cmakedefine JNA 1
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a35fd764d2..3c5b7e0a9e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1312,9 +1312,6 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/resource.h])
 # See if we have ftw.h to walk directory trees
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS([ftw.h])
 
-# See if we can do stack tracing programmatically
-AC_CHECK_HEADERS([execinfo.h])
-
 # Check for these functions...
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([strlcat snprintf strcasecmp fileno \
                 strdup strtoll strtoull \
diff --git a/libdispatch/nclog.c b/libdispatch/nclog.c
index 5f6b8be7d8..c9664a23cf 100644
--- a/libdispatch/nclog.c
+++ b/libdispatch/nclog.c
@@ -21,10 +21,6 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #endif
  
-#ifdef HAVE_EXECINFO_H
-#include <execinfo.h>
-#endif
-
 #include "netcdf.h"
 #include "nclog.h"
 
@@ -278,10 +274,6 @@ ncuntrace(const char* fcn, int err, const char* fmt, ...)
             vfprintf(nclog_global.nclogstream, fmt, args);
         fprintf(nclog_global.nclogstream, "\n" );
         fflush(nclog_global.nclogstream);
-#ifdef HAVE_EXECINFO_H
-        if(err != 0)
-            ncbacktrace();
-#endif
     }
 done:
     va_end(args);
@@ -304,28 +296,4 @@ ncbreakpoint(int err)
     return err;
 }
 
-#ifdef HAVE_EXECINFO_H
-#define MAXSTACKDEPTH 100
-void
-ncbacktrace(void)
-{
-    int j, nptrs;
-    void* buffer[MAXSTACKDEPTH];
-    char **strings;
-
-    if(getenv("NCBACKTRACE") == NULL) return;
-    nptrs = backtrace(buffer, MAXSTACKDEPTH);
-    strings = backtrace_symbols(buffer, nptrs);
-    if (strings == NULL) {
-        perror("backtrace_symbols");
-        errno = 0;
-	return;
-    }
-    fprintf(stderr,"Backtrace:\n");
-    for(j = 0; j < nptrs; j++)
-	fprintf(stderr,"%s\n", strings[j]);
-    free(strings);
-}
-#endif
-
 /**@}*/
diff --git a/libhdf5/hdf5debug.c b/libhdf5/hdf5debug.c
index 40871c148a..b4dace8d59 100644
--- a/libhdf5/hdf5debug.c
+++ b/libhdf5/hdf5debug.c
@@ -14,37 +14,9 @@
 
 #ifdef H5CATCH
 
-#define STSIZE 1000
-
-#ifdef HAVE_EXECINFO_H
-#ifdef H5BACKTRACE
-#  if !defined _WIN32 && !defined __CYGWIN__
-static void* stacktrace[STSIZE];
-#  endif
-#endif
-#endif
-
 int
 nch5breakpoint(int err)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE_EXECINFO_H
-#ifdef H5BACKTRACE
-#  if !defined _WIN32 && !defined __CYGWIN__
-    int count = 0;
-    char** trace = NULL;
-    int i;
-
-    count = backtrace(stacktrace,STSIZE);
-    trace = backtrace_symbols(stacktrace, STSIZE);
-    fprintf(stderr,"backtrace:\n");
-    for(i=0;i<count;i++)
-        fprintf(stderr,"[%03d] %s\n",i,trace[i]);
-#    if 0
-    if(trace != NULL) free(trace);
-#    endif
-#  endif
-#endif
-#endif
     return ncbreakpoint(err);
 }