diff --git a/src/base/cprintf_formats.hh b/src/base/cprintf_formats.hh
index 4c78fdf..f55fb95 100644
--- a/src/base/cprintf_formats.hh
+++ b/src/base/cprintf_formats.hh
@@ -337,10 +337,6 @@
 format_string(std::ostream &out, const T &data, Format &fmt)
 { _format_string(out, data, fmt); }
 
-inline void
-format_string(std::ostream &out, const std::stringstream &data, Format &fmt)
-{ _format_string(out, data.str(), fmt); }
-
 } // namespace cp
 
 #endif // __CPRINTF_FORMATS_HH__
diff --git a/src/base/cprintftest.cc b/src/base/cprintftest.cc
index 86694ed..3a1b97e 100644
--- a/src/base/cprintftest.cc
+++ b/src/base/cprintftest.cc
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@
 
     std::stringstream foo2;
     foo2 << "stringstream test";
-    ccprintf(ss, "%s\n", foo2);
+    ccprintf(ss, "%s\n", foo2.str());
     EXPECT_EQ(ss.str(), "stringstream test\n");
     ss.str("");