diff --git a/schema/config-linux.json b/schema/config-linux.json
index 0da996aab..ecaba7769 100644
--- a/schema/config-linux.json
+++ b/schema/config-linux.json
@@ -179,11 +179,11 @@
                         "properties": {
                             "cpus": {
                                 "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/bundle/linux/resources/cpu/cpus",
-                                "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/stringPointer"
+                                "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/string"
                             },
                             "mems": {
                                 "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/bundle/linux/resources/cpu/mems",
-                                "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/stringPointer"
+                                "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/string"
                             },
                             "period": {
                                 "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/bundle/linux/resources/cpu/period",
@@ -290,14 +290,8 @@
                 }
             },
             "cgroupsPath": {
-                "oneOf": [
-                    {
-                        "type": "null"
-                    },
-                    {
-                        "type": "string"
-                    }
-                ]
+                "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/bundle/linux/cgroupsPath",
+                "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/string"
             },
             "rootfsPropagation": {
                 "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/bundle/linux/rootfsPropagation",
diff --git a/schema/defs-linux.json b/schema/defs-linux.json
index 0cecb14a0..c7b5339f0 100644
--- a/schema/defs-linux.json
+++ b/schema/defs-linux.json
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@
                     "type": "boolean"
                 },
                 "type": {
-                    "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/stringPointer"
+                    "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/string"
                 },
                 "major": {
                     "oneOf": [
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@
                     ]
                 },
                 "access": {
-                    "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/stringPointer"
+                    "$ref": "defs.json#/definitions/string"
                 }
             },
             "required": [
diff --git a/schema/defs.json b/schema/defs.json
index 89523607d..206e7dd3e 100644
--- a/schema/defs.json
+++ b/schema/defs.json
@@ -86,16 +86,6 @@
                 }
             ]
         },
-        "stringPointer": {
-            "oneOf": [
-                {
-                    "type": "string"
-                },
-                {
-                    "type": "null"
-                }
-            ]
-        },
         "mapStringString": {
             "type": "object",
             "patternProperties": {
diff --git a/style.md b/style.md
index fc501cfc0..bb5bced4f 100644
--- a/style.md
+++ b/style.md
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ The config JSON isn't enough of a UI to be worth jumping through string <-> inte
 For example, `CAP_KILL` instead of `KILL` in [**`linux.capabilities`**][capabilities].
 The redundancy reduction from removing the namespacing prefix is not useful enough to be worth trimming the upstream identifier ([source][keep-prefix]).
 
-## Optional settings should have pointer Go types
+## Optional settings should not have pointer Go types
 
-So we have a consistent way to identify unset values ([source][optional-pointer]).
-The exceptions are entries where the Go default for the type is a no-op in the spec, in which case `omitempty` is sufficient and no pointer is needed (sources [here][no-pointer-for-slices], [here][no-pointer-for-boolean], and [here][pointer-when-updates-require-changes]).
+Because in many cases the Go default for the type is a no-op in the spec (sources [here][no-pointer-for-strings], [here][no-pointer-for-slices], and [here][no-pointer-for-boolean]).
+The exceptions are entries where we need to distinguish between “not set” and “set to the Go default for that type” ([source][pointer-when-updates-require-changes]), and this decision should be made on a per-setting case.
 
 ## Examples
 
@@ -88,10 +88,10 @@ Following is a fully populated example (not necessarily for copy/paste use)
 
 [capabilities]: config-linux.md#capabilities
 [class-id]: config-linux.md#network
-[integer-over-hex]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/267#discussion_r48360013
+[integer-over-hex]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/267#r48360013
 [keep-prefix]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/159#issuecomment-138728337
-[no-pointer-for-boolean]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/290#discussion_r50296396
-[no-pointer-for-slices]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/316/files#r50782982
-[optional-pointer]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/233#discussion_r47829711
-[pointer-when-updates-require-changes]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/317/files#r50932706
+[no-pointer-for-boolean]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/290#r50296396
+[no-pointer-for-slices]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/316#r50782982
+[no-pointer-for-strings]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/653#issue-200439192
+[pointer-when-updates-require-changes]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/pull/317#r50932706
 [markdown-headers]: https://help.github.com/articles/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax/#headings