diff --git a/newsfragments/3436.minor b/newsfragments/3436.minor
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/web/test_util.py b/src/allmydata/test/web/test_util.py
index 8c48c20a5..24f865ebc 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/web/test_util.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/web/test_util.py
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@ from ..common import ShouldFailMixin
 from .. import common_util as testutil
 
 class Util(ShouldFailMixin, testutil.ReallyEqualMixin, unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_load_file(self):
-        # This will raise an exception unless a well-formed XML file is found under that name.
-        common.getxmlfile('directory.xhtml').load()
 
     def test_parse_replace_arg(self):
         self.failUnlessReallyEqual(common.parse_replace_arg("true"), True)
diff --git a/src/allmydata/web/common.py b/src/allmydata/web/common.py
index 6035e2884..c1bddae86 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/web/common.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/web/common.py
@@ -3,21 +3,40 @@ import time
 import json
 from functools import wraps
 
-from twisted.web import http, server, resource, template
+from twisted.web import (
+    http,
+    resource,
+    server,
+    template,
+)
 from twisted.python import log
-from nevow import loaders, appserver
+from nevow import appserver
 from nevow.rend import Page
 from nevow.inevow import IRequest
-from nevow.util import resource_filename
 from allmydata import blacklist
-from allmydata.interfaces import ExistingChildError, NoSuchChildError, \
-     FileTooLargeError, NotEnoughSharesError, NoSharesError, \
-     EmptyPathnameComponentError, MustBeDeepImmutableError, \
-     MustBeReadonlyError, MustNotBeUnknownRWError, SDMF_VERSION, MDMF_VERSION
+from allmydata.interfaces import (
+    EmptyPathnameComponentError,
+    ExistingChildError,
+    FileTooLargeError,
+    MustBeDeepImmutableError,
+    MustBeReadonlyError,
+    MustNotBeUnknownRWError,
+    NoSharesError,
+    NoSuchChildError,
+    NotEnoughSharesError,
+    MDMF_VERSION,
+    SDMF_VERSION,
+)
 from allmydata.mutable.common import UnrecoverableFileError
 from allmydata.util.hashutil import timing_safe_compare
-from allmydata.util.time_format import format_time, format_delta
-from allmydata.util.encodingutil import to_bytes, quote_output
+from allmydata.util.time_format import (
+    format_delta,
+    format_time,
+)
+from allmydata.util.encodingutil import (
+    quote_output,
+    to_bytes,
+)
 
 # Originally part of this module, so still part of its API:
 from .common_py3 import (  # noqa: F401
@@ -42,9 +61,6 @@ def get_filenode_metadata(filenode):
         metadata['size'] = size
     return metadata
 
-def getxmlfile(name):
-    return loaders.xmlfile(resource_filename('allmydata.web', '%s' % name))
-
 def boolean_of_arg(arg):
     # TODO: ""
     if arg.lower() not in ("true", "t", "1", "false", "f", "0", "on", "off"):