diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index b538b45..eb08a06 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 Package: dsem
 Type: Package
 Title: Fit Dynamic Structural Equation Models
-Version: 1.2.0
-Date: 2024-03-29
+Version: 1.2.1
+Date: 2024-04-02
 Authors@R: 
     c(person(given = "James",
              family = "Thorson",
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 436e121..c094211 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ S3method(vcov,dsem)
 export(TMBAIC)
 export(as_fitted_DAG)
 export(as_sem)
-export(checkDepPackageVersion)
 export(classify_variables)
 export(dsem)
 export(dsem_control)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index ed27bea..9350012 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+# dsem 1.2.1
+
+* removing `checkDepPackageVersion(dep_pkg="Matrix", this_pkg="TMB")` from `.onLoad()`
+  as requested by K. Kristensen
+
 # dsem 1.2.0
 
 * Adding option to specify covariance via argument `covs`
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 031eb8d..18dbd49 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -6,37 +6,36 @@
 #' @param warn give warning?
 #' @return logical: TRUE if the binary versions match
 #' @importFrom utils packageVersion
-#' @export
-checkDepPackageVersion <- function(dep_pkg = "TMB",
-                                   this_pkg = "dsem",
-                                   write_file = FALSE,
-                                   warn = TRUE) {
-    cur_dep_version <- as.character(packageVersion(dep_pkg))
-    fn <- sprintf("%s-version", dep_pkg)
-    if (write_file) {
-        cat(sprintf("current %s version=%s: writing file\n", dep_pkg, cur_dep_version))
-        writeLines(cur_dep_version, con = fn)
-        return(cur_dep_version)
-    }
-    fn <- system.file(fn, package=this_pkg)
-    built_dep_version <- scan(file=fn, what=character(), quiet=TRUE)
-    result_ok <- identical(built_dep_version, cur_dep_version)
-    if(warn && !result_ok) {
-        warning(
-            "Package version inconsistency detected.\n",
-            sprintf("%s was built with %s version %s",
-                    this_pkg, dep_pkg, built_dep_version),
-            "\n",
-            sprintf("Current %s version is %s",
-                    dep_pkg, cur_dep_version),
-            "\n",
-            sprintf("Please re-install %s from source ", this_pkg),
-            "or restore original ",
-            sQuote(dep_pkg), " package (see '?reinstalling' for more information)"
-        )
-    }
-    return(result_ok)
-}
+#checkDepPackageVersion <- function(dep_pkg = "TMB",
+#                                   this_pkg = "dsem",
+#                                   write_file = FALSE,
+#                                   warn = TRUE) {
+#    cur_dep_version <- as.character(packageVersion(dep_pkg))
+#    fn <- sprintf("%s-version", dep_pkg)
+#    if (write_file) {
+#        cat(sprintf("current %s version=%s: writing file\n", dep_pkg, cur_dep_version))
+#        writeLines(cur_dep_version, con = fn)
+#        return(cur_dep_version)
+#    }
+#    fn <- system.file(fn, package=this_pkg)
+#    built_dep_version <- scan(file=fn, what=character(), quiet=TRUE)
+#    result_ok <- identical(built_dep_version, cur_dep_version)
+#    if(warn && !result_ok) {
+#        warning(
+#            "Package version inconsistency detected.\n",
+#            sprintf("%s was built with %s version %s",
+#                    this_pkg, dep_pkg, built_dep_version),
+#            "\n",
+#            sprintf("Current %s version is %s",
+#                    dep_pkg, cur_dep_version),
+#            "\n",
+#            sprintf("Please re-install %s from source ", this_pkg),
+#            "or restore original ",
+#            sQuote(dep_pkg), " package (see '?reinstalling' for more information)"
+#        )
+#    }
+#    return(result_ok)
+#}
 
 #' @name reinstalling
 #' @rdname reinstalling
diff --git a/R/zzz.R b/R/zzz.R
index 9b2a058..9ec976c 100644
--- a/R/zzz.R
+++ b/R/zzz.R
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # See: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/QgrcJHsNjpqZNGJhNMVHcfGFDLLMfrvqqHl
 .onLoad <- function(libname, pkgname) {
   #checkDepPackageVersion(dep_pkg="TMB", this_pkg="dsem")
-  checkDepPackageVersion(dep_pkg="Matrix", this_pkg="TMB")
+  #checkDepPackageVersion(dep_pkg="Matrix", this_pkg="TMB")
 }
 
 .onUnload <- function(libpath) {