diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
index f28d92b18c9b..f9cd096f559b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fontconfig/make-fonts-conf.nix
@@ -6,14 +6,6 @@ runCommand "fonts.conf"
     inherit fontDirectories;
   }
   ''
-    for fd in $fontDirectories;
-    do
-      if [ ! -d "$fd/share/fonts" ] && [ ! -d "$fd/lib/X11/fonts" ]; then
-        echo "ERROR: '$fd/' contains neither 'share/fonts/' nor 'lib/X11/fonts/'"
-        false
-      fi
-    done
-
     xsltproc --stringparam fontDirectories "$fontDirectories" \
       --stringparam fontconfig "${fontconfig}" \
       --path ${fontconfig}/share/xml/fontconfig \