diff --git a/kmod/src/item.c b/kmod/src/item.c
index 09474959..2f165f3b 100644
--- a/kmod/src/item.c
+++ b/kmod/src/item.c
@@ -47,11 +47,6 @@ static bool invalid_key_val(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key, struct kvec *val)
 	        (val && (scoutfs_kvec_length(val) > SCOUTFS_MAX_VAL_SIZE)));
 }
 
-static bool invalid_flags(int sif)
-{
-	return (sif & SIF_EXCLUSIVE) && (sif & SIF_REPLACE);
-}
-
 struct item_cache {
 	struct super_block *sb;
 
@@ -1241,138 +1236,6 @@ out:
 	return ret;
 }
 
-/*
- * Atomically set the caller's items to be the only cached items in the
- * caller's range.  Any existing items that overlap with the caller's
- * items are replaced.  Any existing items in the range that aren't in
- * the caller's list will be replaced with deletion items.  The deletion
- * items and the caller's inserted items will all be marked dirty.
- *
- * In practice this is used for relatively few items at a time, at most
- * on the order of 16.  So we're not too worried with it walking a small
- * number of items a few times when the caller provides flags that have
- * to check for existing items.
- *
- * Returns -ENODATA if SIF_REPLACE is set and a batch item doesn't have
- * a matching existing item or -EEXIST if SIF_EXCLUSIVE is set and a
- * batch item does have an existing item.
- */
-int scoutfs_item_set_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *first,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, int sif,
-			   struct scoutfs_lock *lock)
-{
-	struct scoutfs_sb_info *sbi = SCOUTFS_SB(sb);
-	struct item_cache *cac = sbi->item_cache;
-	struct scoutfs_key_buf *range_end;
-	struct cached_item *exist;
-	struct cached_item *item;
-	struct cached_item *tmp;
-	unsigned long flags;
-	int cmp;
-	int ret;
-
-	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(invalid_flags(sif)))
-		return -EINVAL;
-
-	list_for_each_entry(item, list, entry) {
-		if (invalid_key_val(item->key, item->val))
-			return -EINVAL;
-	}
-
-	trace_scoutfs_item_set_batch(sb, first, last);
-
-	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(scoutfs_key_compare(first, last) > 0) ||
-	    WARN_ON_ONCE(!lock_coverage(lock, first, DLM_LOCK_EX)) ||
-	    WARN_ON_ONCE(!lock_coverage(lock, last, DLM_LOCK_EX)))
-		return -EINVAL;
-
-	range_end = scoutfs_key_alloc(sb, SCOUTFS_MAX_KEY_SIZE);
-	if (!range_end)
-		return -ENOMEM;
-
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&cac->lock, flags);
-
-	/* make sure all of first through last are cached */
-	scoutfs_key_copy(range_end, first);
-	for (;;) {
-		if (check_range(sb, &cac->ranges, range_end, range_end)) {
-			if (scoutfs_key_compare(range_end, last) >= 0)
-				break;
-			/* start reading after the last key we have cached */
-			scoutfs_key_inc(range_end);
-		} else {
-			/* start reading from the missing first */
-			scoutfs_key_copy(range_end, first);
-		}
-
-		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cac->lock, flags);
-		ret = scoutfs_manifest_read_items(sb, range_end, lock->end);
-		spin_lock_irqsave(&cac->lock, flags);
-
-		if (ret)
-			goto out;
-	}
-
-	/* check for _EXCLUSIVE or _REPLACE errors before destroying items */
-	if (!list_empty(list) && (sif & (SIF_EXCLUSIVE | SIF_REPLACE))) {
-
-		item = list_first_entry(list, struct cached_item, entry);
-		exist = item_for_next(&cac->items, first, NULL, last);
-
-		while (item) {
-			/* compare keys, with bias to finding _REPLACE err */
-			if (exist)
-				cmp = scoutfs_key_compare(item->key,
-							  exist->key);
-			else
-				cmp = -1;
-
-			if (cmp < 0) {
-				if (sif & SIF_REPLACE) {
-					ret = -ENODATA;
-					goto out;
-				}
-				if (item->entry.next != list)
-					item = list_next_entry(item, entry);
-				else
-					item = NULL;
-
-			} else if (cmp > 0) {
-				exist = next_item_node(&cac->items, exist, last);
-
-			} else {
-				/* cmp == 0 */
-				if (sif & SIF_EXCLUSIVE) {
-					ret = -EEXIST;
-					goto out;
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	/* delete everything in the range */
-	for (exist = item_for_next(&cac->items, first, NULL, last);
-	     exist; exist = next_item_node(&cac->items, exist, last)) {
-
-		become_deletion_item(sb, cac, exist);
-	}
-
-	/* insert the caller's items, overwriting any existing */
-	list_for_each_entry_safe(item, tmp, list, entry) {
-		list_del_init(&item->entry);
-		insert_item(sb, cac, item, true, false);
-		mark_item_dirty(sb, cac, item);
-	}
-
-	ret = 0;
-out:
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cac->lock, flags);
-	scoutfs_key_free(sb, range_end);
-
-	return ret;
-}
-
 void scoutfs_item_free_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list)
 {
 	struct cached_item *item;
diff --git a/kmod/src/item.h b/kmod/src/item.h
index 521483a9..da487f85 100644
--- a/kmod/src/item.h
+++ b/kmod/src/item.h
@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@
 
 #include <linux/uio.h>
 
-/* behavioural flags for the item functions */
-enum {
-	SIF_EXCLUSIVE = (1 << 1),
-	SIF_REPLACE = (1 << 2),
-};
-
 struct scoutfs_segment;
 struct scoutfs_key_buf;
 
@@ -58,10 +52,6 @@ int scoutfs_item_add_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list,
 int scoutfs_item_insert_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list,
 			      struct scoutfs_key_buf *start,
 			      struct scoutfs_key_buf *end);
-int scoutfs_item_set_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *first,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, int sif,
-			   struct scoutfs_lock *lock);
 void scoutfs_item_free_batch(struct super_block *sb, struct list_head *list);
 
 bool scoutfs_item_has_dirty(struct super_block *sb);
diff --git a/kmod/src/scoutfs_trace.h b/kmod/src/scoutfs_trace.h
index 7a07b7cb..343f6f1a 100644
--- a/kmod/src/scoutfs_trace.h
+++ b/kmod/src/scoutfs_trace.h
@@ -1453,12 +1453,6 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(scoutfs_range_class,
 		  __entry->fsid, __get_str(start), __get_str(end))
 );
 
-DEFINE_EVENT(scoutfs_range_class, scoutfs_item_set_batch,
-	TP_PROTO(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *start,
-		 struct scoutfs_key_buf *end),
-        TP_ARGS(sb, start, end)
-);
-
 DEFINE_EVENT(scoutfs_range_class, scoutfs_item_insert_batch,
 	TP_PROTO(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *start,
 		 struct scoutfs_key_buf *end),