diff --git a/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt b/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
index 0825c4704eca3867613ee2f58fdd5636d2fdee5b..e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391 100644
--- a/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/thirdparty/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-# Distributed under the OSI-approved Apache License, Version 2.0.  See
-# accompanying file Copyright.txt for details.
-#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-
-set(ADIOS_THIRDPARTY_DOWNLOAD_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/downloads
-  CACHE PATH "Download directory for third party dependencies")
-
-include(ExternalProject)
-
-# Boilerplate settings for a common external project infrastructure
-set(EP_ARGS
-  DOWNLOAD_DIR ${ADIOS_THIRDPARTY_DOWNLOAD_DIR}
-  PREFIX       .
-  SOURCE_DIR   source
-  BINARY_DIR   build
-  STAMP_DIR    stamp
-  INSTALL_DIR  install)
-
-# Use Google Test for a unit testing framework
-cmake_dependent_option(ADIOS_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLETEST
-  "Use a system-supplied Google Test framework" ON
-  "BUILD_TESTING" OFF)
-if(BUILD_TESTING)
-  if(ADIOS_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLETEST)
-    find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
-    if(NOT GTEST_FOUND)
-      message(WARNING
-        "Unable to find Google Test framework.  "
-        "Using an internal version")
-      set(ADIOS_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLETEST OFF
-        CACHE BOOL "Use a system-supplied Google Test framework" FORCE)
-    endif()
-  endif()
-  if(NOT ADIOS_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLETEST)
-    add_subdirectory(googletest)
-    find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
-    add_dependencies(GTest::GTest googletest)
-    add_dependencies(GTest::Main googletest)
-  endif()
-endif()
diff --git a/thirdparty/googletest/CMakeLists.txt b/thirdparty/googletest/CMakeLists.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 5fc4fa9ee1dfe938e27473fbc1ae7ea0b9c90aea..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/thirdparty/googletest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-# Distributed under the OSI-approved Apache License, Version 2.0.  See
-# accompanying file Copyright.txt for details.
-#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-
-ExternalProject_Add(googletest
-  URL     https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/release-1.8.0.zip
-  URL_MD5 adfafc8512ab65fd3cf7955ef0100ff5
-  ${EP_ARGS}
-  CMAKE_ARGS
-    -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/install
-    -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0048=OLD
-    -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0063=NEW
-    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
-    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS}
-    -DBUILD_GMOCK=OFF
-    -DBUILD_GTEST=ON
-    -Dgtest_build_samples=OFF
-    -Dgtest_build_tests=OFF
-    -Dgtest_hide_internal_symbols=ON
-    -Dgtest_disable_pthreads=OFF
-    -Dgtest_force_shared_crt=OFF)
-
-function(get_libfile var name)
-  if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
-    set(${var} ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX}${name}${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX} PARENT_SCOPE)
-  else()
-    set(${var} ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX}${name}${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX} PARENT_SCOPE)
-  endif()
-endfunction()
-
-get_libfile(GTEST_LIBRARY gtest)
-get_libfile(GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY gtest_main)
-set(GTEST_ROOT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/install)
-set(GTEST_INCLUDE_DIR ${GTEST_ROOT}/include
-  CACHE PATH "")
-set(GTEST_LIBRARY ${GTEST_ROOT}/lib/${GTEST_LIBRARY}
-  CACHE FILEPATH "")
-set(GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY ${GTEST_ROOT}/lib/${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY}
-  CACHE FILEPATH "")