diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 8d691a19c3..00bf6f70bc 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -1629,9 +1629,7 @@ int manager_startup(Manager *m, FILE *serialization, FDSet *fds) {
 
         manager_preset_all(m);
 
-        r = lookup_paths_reduce(&m->lookup_paths);
-        if (r < 0)
-                log_warning_errno(r, "Failed to reduce unit file paths, ignoring: %m");
+        lookup_paths_log(&m->lookup_paths);
 
         {
                 /* This block is (optionally) done with the reloading counter bumped */
@@ -3520,9 +3518,7 @@ int manager_reload(Manager *m) {
         (void) manager_run_environment_generators(m);
         (void) manager_run_generators(m);
 
-        r = lookup_paths_reduce(&m->lookup_paths);
-        if (r < 0)
-                log_warning_errno(r, "Failed to reduce unit file paths, ignoring: %m");
+        lookup_paths_log(&m->lookup_paths);
 
         /* We flushed out generated files, for which we don't watch mtime, so we should flush the old map. */
         manager_free_unit_name_maps(m);
diff --git a/src/shared/path-lookup.c b/src/shared/path-lookup.c
index f1caddb477..6bf0ff0316 100644
--- a/src/shared/path-lookup.c
+++ b/src/shared/path-lookup.c
@@ -704,7 +704,7 @@ int lookup_paths_init(
                 return -ENOMEM;
 
         *p = (LookupPaths) {
-                .search_path = strv_uniq(paths),
+                .search_path = strv_uniq(TAKE_PTR(paths)),
 
                 .persistent_config = TAKE_PTR(persistent_config),
                 .runtime_config = TAKE_PTR(runtime_config),
@@ -725,7 +725,6 @@ int lookup_paths_init(
                 .temporary_dir = TAKE_PTR(tempdir),
         };
 
-        paths = NULL;
         return 0;
 }
 
@@ -754,64 +753,9 @@ void lookup_paths_free(LookupPaths *p) {
         p->temporary_dir = mfree(p->temporary_dir);
 }
 
-int lookup_paths_reduce(LookupPaths *p) {
-        _cleanup_free_ struct stat *stats = NULL;
-        size_t n_stats = 0, allocated = 0;
-        size_t c = 0;
-        int r;
-
+void lookup_paths_log(LookupPaths *p) {
         assert(p);
 
-        /* Drop duplicates and non-existing directories from the search path. We figure out whether two directories are
-         * the same by comparing their device and inode numbers. */
-
-        if (!p->search_path)
-                return 0;
-
-        while (p->search_path[c]) {
-                struct stat st;
-                size_t k;
-
-                /* Never strip the transient and control directories from the path */
-                if (path_equal_ptr(p->search_path[c], p->transient) ||
-                    path_equal_ptr(p->search_path[c], p->persistent_control) ||
-                    path_equal_ptr(p->search_path[c], p->runtime_control)) {
-                        c++;
-                        continue;
-                }
-
-                r = chase_symlinks_and_stat(p->search_path[c], p->root_dir, 0, NULL, &st);
-                if (r == -ENOENT)
-                        goto remove_item;
-                if (r < 0) {
-                        /* If something we don't grok happened, let's better leave it in. */
-                        log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to chase and stat %s: %m", p->search_path[c]);
-                        c++;
-                        continue;
-                }
-
-                for (k = 0; k < n_stats; k++)
-                        if (stats[k].st_dev == st.st_dev &&
-                            stats[k].st_ino == st.st_ino)
-                                break;
-
-                if (k < n_stats) /* Is there already an entry with the same device/inode? */
-                        goto remove_item;
-
-                if (!GREEDY_REALLOC(stats, allocated, n_stats+1))
-                        return -ENOMEM;
-
-                stats[n_stats++] = st;
-                c++;
-                continue;
-
-        remove_item:
-                free(p->search_path[c]);
-                memmove(p->search_path + c,
-                        p->search_path + c + 1,
-                        (strv_length(p->search_path + c + 1) + 1) * sizeof(char*));
-        }
-
         if (strv_isempty(p->search_path)) {
                 log_debug("Ignoring unit files.");
                 p->search_path = strv_free(p->search_path);
@@ -819,13 +763,8 @@ int lookup_paths_reduce(LookupPaths *p) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *t;
 
                 t = strv_join(p->search_path, "\n\t");
-                if (!t)
-                        return -ENOMEM;
-
-                log_debug("Looking for unit files in (higher priority first):\n\t%s", t);
+                log_debug("Looking for unit files in (higher priority first):\n\t%s", strna(t));
         }
-
-        return 0;
 }
 
 int lookup_paths_mkdir_generator(LookupPaths *p) {
diff --git a/src/shared/path-lookup.h b/src/shared/path-lookup.h
index 7070b94249..f0762d248a 100644
--- a/src/shared/path-lookup.h
+++ b/src/shared/path-lookup.h
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ int xdg_user_data_dir(char **ret, const char *suffix);
 bool path_is_user_data_dir(const char *path);
 bool path_is_user_config_dir(const char *path);
 
-int lookup_paths_reduce(LookupPaths *p);
+void lookup_paths_log(LookupPaths *p);
 
 int lookup_paths_mkdir_generator(LookupPaths *p);
 void lookup_paths_trim_generator(LookupPaths *p);
diff --git a/src/test/test-path-lookup.c b/src/test/test-path-lookup.c
index f208559358..62ebc9c923 100644
--- a/src/test/test-path-lookup.c
+++ b/src/test/test-path-lookup.c
@@ -22,15 +22,15 @@ static void test_paths(UnitFileScope scope) {
         assert_se(unsetenv("SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH") == 0);
         assert_se(lookup_paths_init(&lp_without_env, scope, 0, NULL) >= 0);
         assert_se(!strv_isempty(lp_without_env.search_path));
-        assert_se(lookup_paths_reduce(&lp_without_env) >= 0);
+        lookup_paths_log(&lp_without_env);
 
         systemd_unit_path = strjoina(template, "/systemd-unit-path");
         assert_se(setenv("SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH", systemd_unit_path, 1) == 0);
         assert_se(lookup_paths_init(&lp_with_env, scope, 0, NULL) == 0);
         assert_se(strv_length(lp_with_env.search_path) == 1);
         assert_se(streq(lp_with_env.search_path[0], systemd_unit_path));
-        assert_se(lookup_paths_reduce(&lp_with_env) >= 0);
-        assert_se(strv_isempty(lp_with_env.search_path));
+        lookup_paths_log(&lp_with_env);
+        assert_se(strv_equal(lp_with_env.search_path, STRV_MAKE(systemd_unit_path)));
 
         assert_se(rm_rf(template, REMOVE_ROOT|REMOVE_PHYSICAL) >= 0);
 }