diff --git a/sys/src/cmd/8c/txt.c b/sys/src/cmd/8c/txt.c
index 258d90f8e..2974af4cc 100644
--- a/sys/src/cmd/8c/txt.c
+++ b/sys/src/cmd/8c/txt.c
@@ -311,7 +311,6 @@ regalloc(Node *n, Node *tn, Node *o)
 			if(reg[i] == 0)
 				goto out;
 		diag(tn, "out of fixed registers");
-abort();
 		goto err;
 
 	case TFLOAT: