diff --git a/include/dwarfs/progress.h b/include/dwarfs/progress.h
index d06c94dd..7dfc3d3b 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/progress.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/progress.h
@@ -57,12 +57,6 @@ class progress {
            unsigned interval_ms);
   ~progress() noexcept;
 
-  template <typename T>
-  void sync(T&& func) {
-    std::unique_lock lock(mx_);
-    func();
-  }
-
   std::shared_ptr<context> create_context(std::string const& name) const;
   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<context const>> get_active_contexts() const;
 
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp b/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
index 0a5edd08..ac5e38c6 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/scanner.cpp
@@ -749,7 +749,7 @@ void scanner_<LoggerPolicy>::scan(
   prog.set_status_function([](progress const&, size_t) {
     return "waiting for block compression to finish";
   });
-  prog.sync([&] { prog.current.store(nullptr); });
+  prog.current.store(nullptr);
 
   // this is actually needed
   root->set_name(std::string());