diff --git a/src/emqx_lager_backend.erl b/src/emqx_lager_backend.erl
deleted file mode 100644
index b002ff7af..000000000
--- a/src/emqx_lager_backend.erl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
-%% Copyright (c) 2018 EMQ Technologies Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
-%%
-%% Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-%% you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-%% You may obtain a copy of the License at
-%%
-%%     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-%%
-%% Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-%% distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-%% WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-%% See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-%% limitations under the License.
-
--module(emqx_lager_backend).
-
--behaviour(gen_event).
-
--include_lib("lager/include/lager.hrl").
-
--export([init/1, handle_call/2, handle_event/2, handle_info/2,
-         terminate/2, code_change/3]).
-
--record(state, {level :: {'mask', integer()},
-                formatter :: atom(),
-                format_config :: any()}).
-
--define(DEFAULT_FORMAT, [time, " ", pid, " [",severity, "] ", message]).
-
-init([Level]) when is_atom(Level) ->
-    init(Level);
-
-init(Level) when is_atom(Level) ->
-    init([Level,{lager_default_formatter, ?DEFAULT_FORMAT}]);
-
-init([Level,{Formatter, FormatterConfig}]) when is_atom(Formatter) ->
-    Levels = lager_util:config_to_mask(Level),
-    {ok, #state{level = Levels, formatter = Formatter,
-                format_config = FormatterConfig}}.
-
-handle_call(get_loglevel, #state{level = Level} = State) ->
-    {ok, Level, State};
-
-handle_call({set_loglevel, Level}, State) ->
-    try lager_util:config_to_mask(Level) of
-        Levels -> {ok, ok, State#state{level = Levels}}
-    catch
-        _:_ -> {ok, {error, bad_log_level}, State}
-    end;
-
-handle_call(_Request, State) ->
-    {ok, ok, State}.
-
-handle_event({log, Message}, State = #state{level = L}) ->
-    case lager_util:is_loggable(Message, L, ?MODULE) of
-        true ->
-            publish_log(Message, State);
-        false ->
-            {ok, State}
-    end;
-
-handle_event(_Event, State) ->
-    {ok, State}.
-
-handle_info(_Info, State) ->
-    {ok, State}.
-
-terminate(_Reason, _State) ->
-    ok.
-
-code_change(_OldVsn, State, _Extra) ->
-    {ok, State}.
-
-publish_log(Message, State = #state{formatter = Formatter,
-                                    format_config = FormatConfig}) ->
-    Severity = lager_msg:severity(Message),
-    Payload = Formatter:format(Message, FormatConfig),
-    Msg = emqx_message:make(log, topic(Severity), iolist_to_binary(Payload)),
-    emqx:publish(emqx_message:set_flag(sys, Msg)),
-    {ok, State}.
-
-topic(Severity) ->
-    emqx_topic:systop(list_to_binary(lists:concat(['logs/', Severity]))).
-