diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 004afe5f0..9634f9fb1 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -33,10 +33,6 @@ require 'rake'      unless defined?(Rake)
 Package = false # Build zips and tarballs?
 Dir.glob('tasks/*.rake').each { |r| Rake.application.add_import r }
 
-# e.g. rake EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY=java for forcing java build tasks as defaults!
-$eventmachine_library = :java if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /java/ || ENV['EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY'] == 'java'
-$eventmachine_library = :pure_ruby if ENV['EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY'] == 'pure_ruby'
-
 MAKE = ENV['MAKE'] || if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mswin/ # mingw uses make.
   'nmake'
 else
@@ -48,8 +44,7 @@ task :default => [:build, :test]
 
 desc "Build extension (or EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY) and place in lib"
 build_task = 'ext:build'
-build_task = 'java:build' if $eventmachine_library == :java
-build_task = :dummy_build if $eventmachine_library == :pure_ruby
+build_task = 'java:build' if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /java/
 task :build => build_task do |t|
   Dir.glob('{ext,java/src,ext/fastfilereader}/*.{so,bundle,dll,jar}').each do |f|
     mv f, "lib"
diff --git a/lib/pr_eventmachine.rb b/lib/em/pure_ruby.rb
similarity index 99%
rename from lib/pr_eventmachine.rb
rename to lib/em/pure_ruby.rb
index 11cd72ac7..9dd14165f 100644
--- a/lib/pr_eventmachine.rb
+++ b/lib/em/pure_ruby.rb
@@ -34,10 +34,7 @@
 require 'fcntl'
 require 'set'
 
-
 module EventMachine
-
-
   class << self
     # This is mostly useful for automated tests.
     # Return a distinctive symbol so the caller knows whether he's dealing
diff --git a/lib/eventmachine.rb b/lib/eventmachine.rb
index d19f543b0..f7f943283 100644
--- a/lib/eventmachine.rb
+++ b/lib/eventmachine.rb
@@ -1,75 +1,12 @@
-#--
-#
-# Author:: Francis Cianfrocca (gmail: blackhedd)
-# Homepage::  http://rubyeventmachine.com
-# Date:: 8 Apr 2006
-# 
-# See EventMachine and EventMachine::Connection for documentation and
-# usage examples.
-#
-#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#
-# Copyright (C) 2006-07 by Francis Cianfrocca. All Rights Reserved.
-# Gmail: blackhedd
-# 
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of either: 1) the GNU General Public License
-# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
-# License, or (at your option) any later version; or 2) Ruby's License.
-# 
-# See the file COPYING for complete licensing information.
-#
-#---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#
-# 
-
-
-#-- Select in a library based on a global variable.
-# PROVISIONALLY commented out this whole mechanism which selects
-# a pure-Ruby EM implementation if the extension is not available.
-# I expect this will cause a lot of people's code to break, as it
-# exposes misconfigurations and path problems that were masked up
-# till now. The reason I'm disabling it is because the pure-Ruby
-# code will have problems of its own, and it's not nearly as fast
-# anyway. Suggested by a problem report from Moshe Litvin. 05Jun07.
-#
-# 05Dec07: Re-enabled the pure-ruby mechanism, but without the automatic
-# fallback feature that tripped up Moshe Litvin. We shouldn't fail over to
-# the pure Ruby version because it's possible that the user intended to
-# run the extension but failed to do so because of a compilation or
-# similar error. So we require either a global variable or an environment
-# string be set in order to select the pure-Ruby version.
-#
-
-
-unless defined?($eventmachine_library)
-  $eventmachine_library = ENV['EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY'] || :cascade
-end
-$eventmachine_library = $eventmachine_library.to_sym
-
-case $eventmachine_library
-when :pure_ruby
-  require 'pr_eventmachine'
-when :extension
-  require 'rubyeventmachine'
-when :java
+if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /java/
+  require 'java'
   require 'jeventmachine'
-else # :cascade
-  # This is the case that most user code will take.
-  # Prefer the extension if available.
+else
   begin
-    if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /java/
-      require 'java'
-      require 'jeventmachine'
-      $eventmachine_library = :java
-    else
-      require 'rubyeventmachine'
-      $eventmachine_library = :extension
-    end
+    require 'rubyeventmachine'
   rescue LoadError
-    warn "# EventMachine fell back to pure ruby mode" if $DEBUG
-    require 'pr_eventmachine'
-    $eventmachine_library = :pure_ruby
+    warn "Unable to load the EventMachine C extension; To use the pure-ruby reactor, require 'em/pure_ruby'"
+    raise
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/tests/test_basic.rb b/tests/test_basic.rb
index 16083e8b5..388d465ec 100644
--- a/tests/test_basic.rb
+++ b/tests/test_basic.rb
@@ -43,35 +43,6 @@ def test_connection_class_cache
     assert_kind_of EM::Connection, a
   end
 
-  def test_libtype
-    lt = EventMachine.library_type
-    em_lib = (ENV["EVENTMACHINE_LIBRARY"] || $eventmachine_library || :xxx).to_sym
-
-    # Running from test runner, under jruby.
-    if RUBY_PLATFORM == 'java'
-      unless em_lib == :pure_ruby
-        assert_equal( :java, lt )
-        return
-      end
-    end
-
-    case em_lib
-    when :pure_ruby
-      assert_equal( :pure_ruby, lt )
-    when :extension
-      assert_equal( :extension, lt )
-    when :java
-      assert_equal( :java, lt )
-    else
-      # Running from jruby as a standalone test.
-      if RUBY_PLATFORM == 'java'
-        assert_equal( :java, lt )
-      else
-        assert_equal( :extension, lt )
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
   #-------------------------------------