diff --git a/roles/kerberos-client/README.rst b/roles/kerberos-client/README.rst
index c2a72a81e1..8255d3de8d 100644
--- a/roles/kerberos-client/README.rst
+++ b/roles/kerberos-client/README.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 An ansible role to configure a kerberos client
 
+Note ```k5start`` is installed on Debuntu distributions, but is not
+part of RedHat distributions.
+
 **Role Variables**
 
 .. zuul:rolevar:: kerberos_realm
diff --git a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/CentOS.yaml b/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/CentOS.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a4a3332ec..0000000000
--- a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/CentOS.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-- name: Ensure EPEL is pre-installed
-  package:
-    name:
-      - epel-release
-    state: present
-  become: yes
-
-# Until in EPEL8; see:
-#  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1791168
-- name: Install kstart copr repo for CentOS8
-  command: dnf copr enable -y iwienand/kstart
-  become: yes
-  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == '8'
-
-- name: Install kerberos client packages
-  yum:
-    name: '{{ kerberos_client_packages }}'
-    enablerepo: epel
-    state: present
-  become: yes
-
-- name: Remove kstart copr repo for CentOS8
-  command: dnf copr remove -y iwienand/kstart
-  become: yes
-  when: ansible_distribution_major_version == '8'
-
diff --git a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/default.yaml b/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/default.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index e93dabdd79..0000000000
--- a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/install-packages/default.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-- name: Install kerberos client packages
-  package:
-    name: '{{ kerberos_client_packages }}'
-    state: present
-  become: yes
diff --git a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/main.yaml
index c71cedbae1..eef58302ec 100644
--- a/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/kerberos-client/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -24,16 +24,8 @@
     src: etc/krb5.conf.j2
   become: yes
 
-# NOTE(ianw): urgh, we have to install with yum directly to enable
-# epel on CentOS for kstart, which is a pretty hard dependency for
-# useful automation.  If this ever changes, remove this and we can
-# just go back to generic package: installer.
-- name: Distro install kerberos client packages
-  include_tasks: "{{ lookup('first_found', params) }}"
-  vars:
-    params:
-      files:
-        - "{{ ansible_distribution }}.yaml"
-        - "default.yaml"
-      paths:
-        - install-packages
\ No newline at end of file
+- name: Install kerberos client packages
+  package:
+    name: '{{ kerberos_client_packages }}'
+    state: present
+  become: yes
diff --git a/roles/kerberos-client/vars/RedHat.yaml b/roles/kerberos-client/vars/RedHat.yaml
index 764bf347fb..eadf5df02c 100644
--- a/roles/kerberos-client/vars/RedHat.yaml
+++ b/roles/kerberos-client/vars/RedHat.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 kerberos_client_packages:
   - krb5-workstation
-  - kstart