diff --git a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/BaseHashStandalone.java b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/BaseHashStandalone.java
index 26d51158f..4c77ff9d3 100644
--- a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/BaseHashStandalone.java
+++ b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/BaseHashStandalone.java
@@ -51,7 +51,9 @@ package gnu.crypto.hash;
  * See SHA256Generator for more information.
  *
  * @version $Revision: 1.1 $
+ * @deprecated to be removed in 0.9.27
  */
+@Deprecated
 public abstract class BaseHashStandalone implements IMessageDigestStandalone {
 
    // Constants and variables
diff --git a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/IMessageDigestStandalone.java b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/IMessageDigestStandalone.java
index dbba10bb8..b19b3ac8b 100644
--- a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/IMessageDigestStandalone.java
+++ b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/IMessageDigestStandalone.java
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ package gnu.crypto.hash;
  * See SHA256Generator for more information.
  *
  * @version $Revision: 1.1 $
+ * @deprecated to be removed in 0.9.27
  */
+@Deprecated
 public interface IMessageDigestStandalone extends Cloneable {
 
    // Constants
diff --git a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/Sha256Standalone.java b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/Sha256Standalone.java
index 465675cd3..a966b20cf 100644
--- a/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/Sha256Standalone.java
+++ b/core/java/src/gnu/crypto/hash/Sha256Standalone.java
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ package gnu.crypto.hash;
  * See SHA256Generator for more information.
  *
  * @version $Revision: 1.2 $
+ * @deprecated to be removed in 0.9.27
  */
+@Deprecated
 public class Sha256Standalone extends BaseHashStandalone {
    // Constants and variables
    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/SHA256Generator.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/SHA256Generator.java
index 66d630087..e3facad9e 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/SHA256Generator.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/SHA256Generator.java
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 package net.i2p.crypto;
 
-import gnu.crypto.hash.Sha256Standalone;
-
 import java.security.DigestException;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
 import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
@@ -14,25 +12,13 @@ import net.i2p.data.Hash;
  * Defines a wrapper for SHA-256 operation.
  * 
  * As of release 0.8.7, uses java.security.MessageDigest by default.
- * If that is unavailable, it uses
+ * As of release 0.9.25, uses only MessageDigest.
  * GNU-Crypto {@link gnu.crypto.hash.Sha256Standalone}
+ * is deprecated.
  */
 public final class SHA256Generator {
     private final LinkedBlockingQueue<MessageDigest> _digests;
 
-    private static final boolean _useGnu;
-
-    static {
-        boolean useGnu = false;
-        try {
-            MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");
-        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
-            useGnu = true;
-            System.out.println("INFO: Using GNU SHA-256");
-        }
-        _useGnu = useGnu;
-    }
-
     /**
      *  @param context unused
      */
@@ -96,45 +82,14 @@ public final class SHA256Generator {
     }
     
     /**
-     *  Return a new MessageDigest from the system libs unless unavailable
-     *  in this JVM, in that case return a wrapped GNU Sha256Standalone
+     *  Return a new MessageDigest from the system libs.
      *  @since 0.8.7, public since 0.8.8 for FortunaStandalone
      */
     public static MessageDigest getDigestInstance() {
-        if (!_useGnu) {
-            try {
-                return MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");
-            } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {}
-        }
-        return new GnuMessageDigest();
-    }
-
-    /**
-     *  Wrapper to make Sha256Standalone a MessageDigest
-     *  @since 0.8.7
-     */
-    private static class GnuMessageDigest extends MessageDigest {
-        private final Sha256Standalone _gnu;
-
-        protected GnuMessageDigest() {
-            super("SHA-256");
-            _gnu = new Sha256Standalone();
-        }
-
-        protected byte[] engineDigest() {
-            return _gnu.digest();
-        }
-
-        protected void engineReset() {
-            _gnu.reset();
-        }
-
-        protected void engineUpdate(byte input) {
-            _gnu.update(input);
-        }
-
-        protected void engineUpdate(byte[] input, int offset, int len) {
-            _gnu.update(input, offset, len);
+        try {
+            return MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");
+        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/DataHelper.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/DataHelper.java
index a9689add7..dcd1ce71c 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/DataHelper.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/data/DataHelper.java
@@ -1324,8 +1324,9 @@ public class DataHelper {
      *
      * @param hash null OK
      * @return null on EOF
-     * @deprecated use MessageDigest version
+     * @deprecated use MessageDigest version to be removed in 0.9.27
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public static String readLine(InputStream in, Sha256Standalone hash) throws IOException {
         StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(128);
         boolean ok = readLine(in, buf, hash);
@@ -1380,7 +1381,7 @@ public class DataHelper {
      *
      * @return true if the line was read, false if eof was reached on an empty line
      *              (returns true for non-empty last line without a newline)
-     * @deprecated use StringBuilder / MessageDigest version
+     * @deprecated use StringBuilder / MessageDigest version, to be removed in 0.9.27
      */
     @Deprecated
     public static boolean readLine(InputStream in, StringBuffer buf, Sha256Standalone hash) throws IOException {
@@ -1420,8 +1421,9 @@ public class DataHelper {
      * @param hash null OK
      * @return true if the line was read, false if eof was reached on an empty line
      *              (returns true for non-empty last line without a newline)
-     * @deprecated use MessageDigest version
+     * @deprecated use MessageDigest version, to be removed in 0.9.27
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public static boolean readLine(InputStream in, StringBuilder buf, Sha256Standalone hash) throws IOException {
         int c = -1;
         int i = 0;
@@ -1463,8 +1465,9 @@ public class DataHelper {
     
     /**
      *  update the hash along the way
-     *  @deprecated use MessageDigest version
+     *  @deprecated use MessageDigest version, to be removed in 0.9.27
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public static void write(OutputStream out, byte data[], Sha256Standalone hash) throws IOException {
         hash.update(data);
         out.write(data);