diff --git a/include/dwarfs/inode.h b/include/dwarfs/inode.h
index e482c0a7..5bfd76b4 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/inode.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/inode.h
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ class inode : public object {
   nilsimsa_similarity_hash(fragment_category cat) const = 0;
   virtual size_t size() const = 0;
   virtual file const* any() const = 0;
-  virtual files_vector const& files() const = 0;
   virtual void
   append_chunks_to(std::vector<thrift::metadata::chunk>& vec) const = 0;
   virtual inode_fragments& fragments() = 0;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
index 2974cc87..e5782b36 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
@@ -194,8 +194,6 @@ class inode_ : public inode {
 
   size_t size() const override { return any()->size(); }
 
-  files_vector const& files() const override { return files_; }
-
   file const* any() const override {
     if (files_.empty()) {
       DWARFS_THROW(runtime_error, "inode has no file (any)");