diff --git a/src/bin/auth/auth.spec.pre.in b/src/bin/auth/auth.spec.pre.in
index 71f4863a2d..3eeb35e0cd 100644
--- a/src/bin/auth/auth.spec.pre.in
+++ b/src/bin/auth/auth.spec.pre.in
@@ -50,8 +50,7 @@
               },
               { "item_name": "filetype",
                 "item_type": "string",
-                "item_optional": true,
-                "item_default": "text"
+                "item_optional": true
               }]
             }
           }]
diff --git a/src/bin/auth/auth_config.cc b/src/bin/auth/auth_config.cc
index af7ae0aed7..3b391d3da5 100644
--- a/src/bin/auth/auth_config.cc
+++ b/src/bin/auth/auth_config.cc
@@ -165,7 +165,6 @@ MemoryDatasourceConfig::build(ConstElementPtr config_value) {
             isc_throw(AuthConfigError, "Missing zone file for zone: "
                       << origin_txt);
         }
-        // XXX: we need to hardcode the default, see above.
         ConstElementPtr filetype = zone_config->get("filetype");
         const string filetype_txt = filetype ? filetype->stringValue() :
             "text";