diff --git a/src/scheduler.c b/src/scheduler.c
index 1eaea2a68ec8d1988c491e78575b324df574dde7..940e55b84bb9bbc0c54cd12d62d2bef0656532a2 100644
--- a/src/scheduler.c
+++ b/src/scheduler.c
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
 #include "space.h"
 #include "task.h"
 #include "timers.h"
-#include "tools.h"
 #include "version.h"
 
 /**
@@ -146,7 +145,8 @@ void scheduler_write_dependencies(struct scheduler *s, int verbose) {
 
   /* Create file */
   char filename[200] = "dependency_graph.dot";
-  FILE *f = open_and_check_file(filename, "w");
+  FILE *f = fopen(filename, "w");
+  if (f == NULL) error("Error opening depenency graph file.");
 
   /* Write header */
   fprintf(f, "digraph task_dep {\n");
diff --git a/src/tools.c b/src/tools.c
index 1aedfc7c35fdd255ebdc2b72b0c70cdbf48fd511..89d89e62ea092ba6c6ec661e423d3e0ee44eb7fe 100644
--- a/src/tools.c
+++ b/src/tools.c
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 #include "../config.h"
 
 /* Some standard headers. */
-#include <errno.h>
 #include <math.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
@@ -695,17 +694,3 @@ int compare_particles(struct part a, struct part b, double threshold) {
 
 #endif
 }
-
-/**
- * @brief Open a file and verify if it was correctly opened
- *
- * @param filename Name of the file
- * @param mode Opening mode (e.g. 'a', 'w', ..)
- */
-FILE *open_and_check_file(const char *filename, const char *mode) {
-  FILE *f = fopen(filename, mode);
-  if (f == NULL)
-    error("Unable to open file '%s' in mode %s, error: %i", filename, mode,
-          errno);
-  return f;
-}
diff --git a/src/tools.h b/src/tools.h
index 3a5f82292006e35d070b093343b6959017c186e4..4d9e8d3ef86f9ad2661118acf008797893ea5bd7 100644
--- a/src/tools.h
+++ b/src/tools.h
@@ -52,6 +52,4 @@ int compare_values(double a, double b, double threshold, double *absDiff,
                    double *absSum, double *relDiff);
 int compare_particles(struct part a, struct part b, double threshold);
 
-FILE *open_and_check_file(const char *filename, const char *mode);
-
 #endif /* SWIFT_TOOL_H */