diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/utils/helpers.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/utils/helpers.rs
index f4be22f1e649..2f18fb603182 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/utils/helpers.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/utils/helpers.rs
@@ -5,13 +5,11 @@
 
 use std::ffi::OsStr;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
-use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
 use std::sync::OnceLock;
 use std::thread::panicking;
 use std::time::{Instant, SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
 use std::{env, fs, io, panic, str};
 
-use build_helper::util::fail;
 use object::read::archive::ArchiveFile;
 
 use crate::LldMode;
@@ -282,33 +280,6 @@ pub fn make(host: &str) -> PathBuf {
     }
 }
 
-/// Spawn a process and return a closure that will wait for the process
-/// to finish and then return its output. This allows the spawned process
-/// to do work without immediately blocking bootstrap.
-#[track_caller]
-pub fn start_process(cmd: &mut Command) -> impl FnOnce() -> String + use<> {
-    let child = match cmd.stderr(Stdio::inherit()).stdout(Stdio::piped()).spawn() {
-        Ok(child) => child,
-        Err(e) => fail(&format!("failed to execute command: {cmd:?}\nERROR: {e}")),
-    };
-
-    let command = format!("{cmd:?}");
-
-    move || {
-        let output = child.wait_with_output().unwrap();
-
-        if !output.status.success() {
-            panic!(
-                "command did not execute successfully: {}\n\
-                 expected success, got: {}",
-                command, output.status
-            );
-        }
-
-        String::from_utf8(output.stdout).unwrap()
-    }
-}
-
 /// Returns the last-modified time for `path`, or zero if it doesn't exist.
 pub fn mtime(path: &Path) -> SystemTime {
     fs::metadata(path).and_then(|f| f.modified()).unwrap_or(UNIX_EPOCH)