diff --git a/lucene/contrib/benchmark/src/java/org/apache/lucene/benchmark/byTask/tasks/CreateIndexTask.java b/lucene/contrib/benchmark/src/java/org/apache/lucene/benchmark/byTask/tasks/CreateIndexTask.java
index 2aa125efbc1..314eb004a48 100644
--- a/lucene/contrib/benchmark/src/java/org/apache/lucene/benchmark/byTask/tasks/CreateIndexTask.java
+++ b/lucene/contrib/benchmark/src/java/org/apache/lucene/benchmark/byTask/tasks/CreateIndexTask.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.NoDeletionPolicy;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.NoMergePolicy;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.NoMergeScheduler;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriterConfig.OpenMode;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.codecs.CodecProvider;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.Version;
 
 import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
@@ -95,6 +96,11 @@ public class CreateIndexTask extends PerfTask {
       }
     }
 
+    final String defaultCodec = config.get("default.codec", null);
+    if (defaultCodec != null) {
+      CodecProvider.setDefaultCodec(defaultCodec);
+    }
+
     final String mergePolicy = config.get("merge.policy",
                                           "org.apache.lucene.index.LogByteSizeMergePolicy");
     boolean isCompound = config.get("compound", true);
diff --git a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/FieldsReader.java b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/FieldsReader.java
index ee5882464ed..96b58120e50 100644
--- a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/FieldsReader.java
+++ b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/FieldsReader.java
@@ -186,12 +186,6 @@ final class FieldsReader implements Cloneable {
     indexStream.seek(FORMAT_SIZE + (docID + docStoreOffset) * 8L);
   }
 
-  boolean canReadRawDocs() {
-    // Since we currently only support >3.0 format anymore, always return true!
-    // I leave this method in because it may help for later format changes.
-    return true;
-  }
-
   final Document doc(int n, FieldSelector fieldSelector) throws CorruptIndexException, IOException {
     seekIndex(n);
     long position = indexStream.readLong();
diff --git a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SegmentMerger.java b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SegmentMerger.java
index 03426549f0e..e364497ca23 100644
--- a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SegmentMerger.java
+++ b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SegmentMerger.java
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ final class SegmentMerger {
           FieldsReader matchingFieldsReader = null;
           if (matchingSegmentReader != null) {
             final FieldsReader fieldsReader = matchingSegmentReader.getFieldsReader();
-            if (fieldsReader != null && fieldsReader.canReadRawDocs()) {            
+            if (fieldsReader != null) {
               matchingFieldsReader = fieldsReader;
             }
           }
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ final class SegmentMerger {
           TermVectorsReader vectorsReader = matchingSegmentReader.getTermVectorsReaderOrig();
 
           // If the TV* files are an older format then they cannot read raw docs:
-          if (vectorsReader != null && vectorsReader.canReadRawDocs()) {
+          if (vectorsReader != null) {
             matchingVectorsReader = vectorsReader;
           }
         }
diff --git a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/TermVectorsReader.java b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/TermVectorsReader.java
index 63201238e53..0a62269635b 100644
--- a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/TermVectorsReader.java
+++ b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/TermVectorsReader.java
@@ -135,10 +135,6 @@ class TermVectorsReader implements Cloneable {
     tvx.seek((docNum + docStoreOffset) * 16L + FORMAT_SIZE);
   }
 
-  boolean canReadRawDocs() {
-    return format >= FORMAT_UTF8_LENGTH_IN_BYTES;
-  }
-
   /** Retrieve the length (in bytes) of the tvd and tvf
    *  entries for the next numDocs starting with
    *  startDocID.  This is used for bulk copying when
@@ -153,11 +149,6 @@ class TermVectorsReader implements Cloneable {
       return;
     }
 
-    // SegmentMerger calls canReadRawDocs() first and should
-    // not call us if that returns false.
-    if (format < FORMAT_UTF8_LENGTH_IN_BYTES)
-      throw new IllegalStateException("cannot read raw docs with older term vector formats");
-
     seekTvx(startDocID);
 
     long tvdPosition = tvx.readLong();