diff --git a/diffcore-break.c b/diffcore-break.c
index 31cdcfe..d7097bb 100644
--- a/diffcore-break.c
+++ b/diffcore-break.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 	 * The value we return is 1 if we want the pair to be broken,
 	 * or 0 if we do not.
 	 */
-	unsigned long delta_size, base_size, max_size;
+	unsigned long delta_size, max_size;
 	unsigned long src_copied, literal_added, src_removed;
 
 	*merge_score_p = 0; /* assume no deletion --- "do not break"
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@
 	if (diff_populate_filespec(src, 0) || diff_populate_filespec(dst, 0))
 		return 0; /* error but caught downstream */
 
-	base_size = ((src->size < dst->size) ? src->size : dst->size);
 	max_size = ((src->size > dst->size) ? src->size : dst->size);
 	if (max_size < MINIMUM_BREAK_SIZE)
 		return 0; /* we do not break too small filepair */