diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/asciilib.h b/Objects/stringlib/asciilib.h
index 8599d38..7749e8f 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/asciilib.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/asciilib.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #define STRINGLIB_CHAR           Py_UCS1
 #define STRINGLIB_TYPE_NAME      "unicode"
 #define STRINGLIB_PARSE_CODE     "U"
-#define STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY()    unicode_empty
 #define STRINGLIB_ISSPACE        Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE
 #define STRINGLIB_ISLINEBREAK    BLOOM_LINEBREAK
 #define STRINGLIB_ISDECIMAL      Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/partition.h b/Objects/stringlib/partition.h
index 3731df5..bcc2176 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/partition.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/partition.h
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 /* stringlib: partition implementation */
 
 #ifndef STRINGLIB_FASTSEARCH_H
-#error must include "stringlib/fastsearch.h" before including this module
+#  error must include "stringlib/fastsearch.h" before including this module
 #endif
 
+#if !STRINGLIB_MUTABLE && !defined(STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY)
+#  error "STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY must be defined if STRINGLIB_MUTABLE is zero"
+#endif
+
+
 Py_LOCAL_INLINE(PyObject*)
 STRINGLIB(partition)(PyObject* str_obj,
                     const STRINGLIB_CHAR* str, Py_ssize_t str_len,
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/stringdefs.h b/Objects/stringlib/stringdefs.h
index c12ecc5..88641b2 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/stringdefs.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/stringdefs.h
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 #ifndef STRINGLIB_STRINGDEFS_H
 #define STRINGLIB_STRINGDEFS_H
 
-#ifndef STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY
-#  error "STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY macro must be defined"
-#endif
-
 /* this is sort of a hack.  there's at least one place (formatting
    floats) where some stringlib code takes a different path if it's
    compiled as unicode. */
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/ucs1lib.h b/Objects/stringlib/ucs1lib.h
index bdf3035..5b0b8a0 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/ucs1lib.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/ucs1lib.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #define STRINGLIB_CHAR           Py_UCS1
 #define STRINGLIB_TYPE_NAME      "unicode"
 #define STRINGLIB_PARSE_CODE     "U"
-#define STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY()    unicode_empty
 #define STRINGLIB_ISSPACE        Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE
 #define STRINGLIB_ISLINEBREAK    BLOOM_LINEBREAK
 #define STRINGLIB_ISDECIMAL      Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/ucs2lib.h b/Objects/stringlib/ucs2lib.h
index 9d68888..6af0151 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/ucs2lib.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/ucs2lib.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #define STRINGLIB_CHAR           Py_UCS2
 #define STRINGLIB_TYPE_NAME      "unicode"
 #define STRINGLIB_PARSE_CODE     "U"
-#define STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY()    unicode_empty
 #define STRINGLIB_ISSPACE        Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE
 #define STRINGLIB_ISLINEBREAK    BLOOM_LINEBREAK
 #define STRINGLIB_ISDECIMAL      Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/ucs4lib.h b/Objects/stringlib/ucs4lib.h
index c7dfa52..39071a0 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/ucs4lib.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/ucs4lib.h
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #define STRINGLIB_CHAR           Py_UCS4
 #define STRINGLIB_TYPE_NAME      "unicode"
 #define STRINGLIB_PARSE_CODE     "U"
-#define STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY()    unicode_empty
 #define STRINGLIB_ISSPACE        Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE
 #define STRINGLIB_ISLINEBREAK    BLOOM_LINEBREAK
 #define STRINGLIB_ISDECIMAL      Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL
diff --git a/Objects/stringlib/unicodedefs.h b/Objects/stringlib/unicodedefs.h
index e4d4163..5ea79cd 100644
--- a/Objects/stringlib/unicodedefs.h
+++ b/Objects/stringlib/unicodedefs.h
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 #define STRINGLIB_CHAR           Py_UNICODE
 #define STRINGLIB_TYPE_NAME      "unicode"
 #define STRINGLIB_PARSE_CODE     "U"
-#define STRINGLIB_GET_EMPTY()    unicode_empty
 #define STRINGLIB_ISSPACE        Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE
 #define STRINGLIB_ISLINEBREAK    BLOOM_LINEBREAK
 #define STRINGLIB_ISDECIMAL      Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL