diff --git a/source/configure b/source/configure
index 0e14a1f5..dcf194fd 100755
--- a/source/configure
+++ b/source/configure
@@ -9317,16 +9317,6 @@ else
       echo "Not rebuilding data/rules.mk, assuming prebuilt data in data/in"
       touch data/rules.mk
     fi
-    echo "Spawning Python to generate test/testdata/rules.mk..."
-    PYTHONPATH="$srcdir/python" \
-        $PYTHON -m icutools.databuilder \
-        --mode gnumake \
-        --seqmode parallel \
-        --src_dir "$srcdir/test/testdata" \
-        > test/testdata/rules.mk
-    if test "$?" != "0"; then
-        as_fn_error $? "Python failed to run; see above error." "$LINENO" 5
-    fi
 fi
 
 echo