diff --git a/hw/ppc/ppc.c b/hw/ppc/ppc.c
index fab73f1b1f..45834f98d1 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/ppc.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/ppc.c
@@ -275,10 +275,9 @@ void ppc970_irq_init(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
 static void power7_set_irq(void *opaque, int pin, int level)
 {
     PowerPCCPU *cpu = opaque;
-    CPUPPCState *env = &cpu->env;
 
     LOG_IRQ("%s: env %p pin %d level %d\n", __func__,
-                env, pin, level);
+            &cpu->env, pin, level);
 
     switch (pin) {
     case POWER7_INPUT_INT:
@@ -292,11 +291,6 @@ static void power7_set_irq(void *opaque, int pin, int level)
         LOG_IRQ("%s: unknown IRQ pin %d\n", __func__, pin);
         return;
     }
-    if (level) {
-        env->irq_input_state |= 1 << pin;
-    } else {
-        env->irq_input_state &= ~(1 << pin);
-    }
 }
 
 void ppcPOWER7_irq_init(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
@@ -311,10 +305,9 @@ void ppcPOWER7_irq_init(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
 static void power9_set_irq(void *opaque, int pin, int level)
 {
     PowerPCCPU *cpu = opaque;
-    CPUPPCState *env = &cpu->env;
 
     LOG_IRQ("%s: env %p pin %d level %d\n", __func__,
-                env, pin, level);
+            &cpu->env, pin, level);
 
     switch (pin) {
     case POWER9_INPUT_INT:
@@ -334,11 +327,6 @@ static void power9_set_irq(void *opaque, int pin, int level)
         LOG_IRQ("%s: unknown IRQ pin %d\n", __func__, pin);
         return;
     }
-    if (level) {
-        env->irq_input_state |= 1 << pin;
-    } else {
-        env->irq_input_state &= ~(1 << pin);
-    }
 }
 
 void ppcPOWER9_irq_init(PowerPCCPU *cpu)
diff --git a/target/ppc/cpu.h b/target/ppc/cpu.h
index e3e82327b7..f9528fc29d 100644
--- a/target/ppc/cpu.h
+++ b/target/ppc/cpu.h
@@ -1090,7 +1090,9 @@ struct CPUPPCState {
 #if !defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY)
     /*
      * This is the IRQ controller, which is implementation dependent
-     * and only relevant when emulating a complete machine.
+     * and only relevant when emulating a complete machine. Note that
+     * this isn't used by recent Book3s compatible CPUs (POWER7 and
+     * newer).
      */
     uint32_t irq_input_state;
     void **irq_inputs;