diff --git a/meta/files/layers.example.json b/meta/files/layers.example.json
index 3772404ec9..0a6a6a7b48 100644
--- a/meta/files/layers.example.json
+++ b/meta/files/layers.example.json
@@ -12,11 +12,6 @@
                 },
                 "rev": "05b25605fb8b2399e4706d7323828676bf0da0b5"
             },
-            "layers": {
-                "meta-alex": {
-                    "subpath": ""
-                }
-            },
             "path": "meta-alex"
         },
         "meta-intel": {
@@ -30,11 +25,6 @@
                 },
                 "rev": "0a96edae609a3f48befac36af82cf1eed6786b4a"
             },
-            "layers": {
-                "meta-intel": {
-                    "subpath": ""
-                }
-            },
             "path": "meta-intel"
         },
         "poky": {
@@ -51,20 +41,6 @@
                 },
                 "rev": "9dda719b2a4727a4d43a6ab8d9e23f8ca68790ec"
             },
-            "layers": {
-                "meta": {
-                    "subpath": "meta"
-                },
-                "meta-poky": {
-                    "subpath": "meta-poky"
-                },
-                "meta-selftest": {
-                    "subpath": "meta-selftest"
-                },
-                "meta-yocto-bsp": {
-                    "subpath": "meta-yocto-bsp"
-                }
-            },
             "path": "poky"
         }
     },
diff --git a/meta/files/layers.schema.json b/meta/files/layers.schema.json
index cd4ddd3dcd..659ee8da49 100644
--- a/meta/files/layers.schema.json
+++ b/meta/files/layers.schema.json
@@ -29,21 +29,6 @@
                         "description": "Whether the directory with the layer source also contains this json description. Tools may want to skip the checkout of the source then.",
                         "type": "boolean"
                     },
-                    "layers": {
-                        "description": "The dict of layers to be used from this upstream source",
-                        "type": "object",
-                        "patternProperties": { ".*" : {
-                            "description": "A layer from the upstream source",
-                            "type": "object",
-                            "additionalProperties": false,
-                            "properties": {
-                                "subpath": {
-                                    "description": "The subpath (relative to the source root) for this layer. Omit if the source root is the layer path",
-                                    "type": "string"
-                                }
-                            }
-                        }}
-                    },
                     "git-remote": {
                                 "description": "A remote git source from which to fetch",
                                 "type": "object",
diff --git a/meta/lib/bblayers/makesetup.py b/meta/lib/bblayers/makesetup.py
index bef6da0ea8..22f89d81a4 100644
--- a/meta/lib/bblayers/makesetup.py
+++ b/meta/lib/bblayers/makesetup.py
@@ -64,13 +64,12 @@ class MakeSetupPlugin(LayerPlugin):
                 return
             repo_path = self._get_repo_path(l_path)
             if repo_path not in repos.keys():
-                repos[repo_path] = {'path':os.path.basename(repo_path),'layers':{},'git-remote':{'rev':l_rev, 'branch':l_branch, 'remotes':self._get_remotes(repo_path), 'describe':self._get_describe(repo_path)}}
+                repos[repo_path] = {'path':os.path.basename(repo_path),'git-remote':{'rev':l_rev, 'branch':l_branch, 'remotes':self._get_remotes(repo_path), 'describe':self._get_describe(repo_path)}}
                 if repo_path == destdir_repo:
                     repos[repo_path]['contains_this_file'] = True
                 if not repos[repo_path]['git-remote']['remotes'] and not repos[repo_path]['contains_this_file']:
                     logger.error("Layer repository in {path} does not have any remotes configured. Please add at least one with 'git remote add'.".format(path=repo_path))
                     return
-            repos[repo_path]['layers'][l_name] = {'subpath':l_path.replace(repo_path,'')[1:]}
 
         top_path = os.path.commonpath([os.path.dirname(r) for r in repos.keys()])
 
diff --git a/scripts/oe-setup-layers b/scripts/oe-setup-layers
index cbd2efb5c7..6ecaffed75 100755
--- a/scripts/oe-setup-layers
+++ b/scripts/oe-setup-layers
@@ -18,20 +18,10 @@ import subprocess
 
 def _do_checkout(args, json):
     layers = json['sources']
-    buildconfs = []
-    oecorepath = ""
     for l_name in layers:
         l_data = layers[l_name]
         layerdir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(args['destdir'], l_data['path']))
 
-        for ll_name in l_data['layers']:
-            if ll_name == 'meta':
-                oecorepath = layerdir
-            ll_data = l_data['layers'][ll_name]
-            if 'buildconfigs' in ll_data:
-                for c in ll_data['buildconfigs']:
-                    buildconfs.append(os.path.join(layerdir, ll_data['subpath'], c))
-
         if 'contains_this_file' in l_data.keys():
             force_arg = 'force_bootstraplayer_checkout'
             if not args[force_arg]: