diff --git a/cursor/convert_font.c b/cursor/convert_font.c
index 74e45fbc..77e34c20 100644
--- a/cursor/convert_font.c
+++ b/cursor/convert_font.c
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
  * http://fontforge.org/pcf-format.html
  */
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
diff --git a/src/connection.c b/src/connection.c
index fb6a4be8..e1b751ac 100644
--- a/src/connection.c
+++ b/src/connection.c
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 
 #define _GNU_SOURCE
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <math.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
diff --git a/src/event-loop.c b/src/event-loop.c
index f6392521..51c9b9d0 100644
--- a/src/event-loop.c
+++ b/src/event-loop.c
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
  * SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
diff --git a/src/wayland-client.c b/src/wayland-client.c
index a2c9ad95..f7d38d4b 100644
--- a/src/wayland-client.c
+++ b/src/wayland-client.c
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/un.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <poll.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
diff --git a/src/wayland-server.c b/src/wayland-server.c
index 5ea9101b..1d6be3ec 100644
--- a/src/wayland-server.c
+++ b/src/wayland-server.c
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/un.h>
 #include <dlfcn.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <sys/eventfd.h>
@@ -1534,7 +1533,8 @@ wl_display_terminate(struct wl_display *display)
 	display->run = false;
 
 	ret = write(display->terminate_efd, &terminate, sizeof(terminate));
-	assert (ret >= 0 || errno == EAGAIN);
+	if (ret < 0 && errno != EAGAIN)
+		wl_abort("Write failed at shutdown\n");
 }
 
 WL_EXPORT void
diff --git a/src/wayland-shm.c b/src/wayland-shm.c
index 70685e6c..87917dad 100644
--- a/src/wayland-shm.c
+++ b/src/wayland-shm.c
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
 #include <errno.h>