diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index ab26963d61..a4058063ce 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -2087,8 +2087,8 @@ remote.<name>.vcs::
 
 remote.<name>.prune::
 	When set to true, fetching from this remote by default will also
-	remove any remote-tracking branches which no longer exist on the
-	remote (as if the `--prune` option was give on the command line).
+	remove any remote-tracking references that no longer exist on the
+	remote (as if the `--prune` option was given on the command line).
 	Overrides `fetch.prune` settings, if any.
 
 remotes.<group>::
diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
index 921f6be8d4..12b1d92a2f 100644
--- a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
@@ -41,8 +41,14 @@ ifndef::git-pull[]
 
 -p::
 --prune::
-	After fetching, remove any remote-tracking branches which
-	no longer exist	on the remote.
+	After fetching, remove any remote-tracking references that no
+	longer exist on the remote.  Tags are not subject to pruning
+	if they are fetched only because of the default tag
+	auto-following or due to a --tags option.  However, if tags
+	are fetched due to an explicit refspec (either on the command
+	line or in the remote configuration, for example if the remote
+	was cloned with the --mirror option), then they are also
+	subject to pruning.
 endif::git-pull[]
 
 ifdef::git-pull[]
@@ -61,9 +67,12 @@ endif::git-pull[]
 ifndef::git-pull[]
 -t::
 --tags::
-	Request that all tags be fetched from the remote in addition
-	to whatever else is being fetched.  Its effect is similar to
-	that of the refspec `refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*`.
+	Fetch all tags from the remote (i.e., fetch remote tags
+	`refs/tags/*` into local tags with the same name), in addition
+	to whatever else would otherwise be fetched.  Using this
+	option alone does not subject tags to pruning, even if --prune
+	is used (though tags may be pruned anyway if they are also the
+	destination of an explicit refspec; see '--prune').
 
 --recurse-submodules[=yes|on-demand|no]::
 	This option controls if and under what conditions new commits of
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 887fa3e581..1514b908d8 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -850,38 +850,17 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 	if (prune) {
-		struct refspec *prune_refspecs;
-		int prune_refspec_count;
-
+		/*
+		 * We only prune based on refspecs specified
+		 * explicitly (via command line or configuration); we
+		 * don't care whether --tags was specified.
+		 */
 		if (ref_count) {
-			prune_refspecs = refs;
-			prune_refspec_count = ref_count;
+			prune_refs(refs, ref_count, ref_map);
 		} else {
-			prune_refspecs = transport->remote->fetch;
-			prune_refspec_count = transport->remote->fetch_refspec_nr;
-		}
-
-		if (tags == TAGS_SET) {
-			/*
-			 * --tags was specified.  Pretend that the user also
-			 * gave us the canonical tags refspec
-			 */
-			const char *tags_str = "refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*";
-			struct refspec *tags_refspec, *refspec;
-
-			/* Copy the refspec and add the tags to it */
-			refspec = xcalloc(prune_refspec_count + 1, sizeof(*refspec));
-			tags_refspec = parse_fetch_refspec(1, &tags_str);
-			memcpy(refspec, prune_refspecs, prune_refspec_count * sizeof(*refspec));
-			memcpy(&refspec[prune_refspec_count], tags_refspec, sizeof(*refspec));
-
-			prune_refs(refspec, prune_refspec_count + 1, ref_map);
-
-			/* The rest of the strings belong to fetch_one */
-			free_refspec(1, tags_refspec);
-			free(refspec);
-		} else {
-			prune_refs(prune_refspecs, prune_refspec_count, ref_map);
+			prune_refs(transport->remote->fetch,
+				   transport->remote->fetch_refspec_nr,
+				   ref_map);
 		}
 	}
 	free_refs(ref_map);
diff --git a/t/t5510-fetch.sh b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
index 02e5901ab1..5d4581dac8 100755
--- a/t/t5510-fetch.sh
+++ b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch --prune with a namespace keeps other namespaces' '
 	git rev-parse origin/master
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags prunes tags and branches' '
+test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags prunes branches but not tags' '
 	cd "$D" &&
 	git clone . prune-tags &&
 	cd prune-tags &&
@@ -125,10 +125,10 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags prunes tags and branches' '
 	git fetch --prune --tags origin &&
 	git rev-parse origin/master &&
 	test_must_fail git rev-parse origin/fake-remote &&
-	test_must_fail git rev-parse sometag
+	git rev-parse sometag
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags with branch does not delete other remote-tracking branches' '
+test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags with branch does not prune other things' '
 	cd "$D" &&
 	git clone . prune-tags-branch &&
 	cd prune-tags-branch &&
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags with branch does not delete other remo
 
 	git fetch --prune --tags origin master &&
 	git rev-parse origin/extrabranch &&
-	test_must_fail git rev-parse sometag
+	git rev-parse sometag
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags with refspec prunes based on refspec' '
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch --prune --tags with refspec prunes based on refspec'
 	git fetch --prune --tags origin refs/heads/foo/*:refs/remotes/origin/foo/* &&
 	test_must_fail git rev-parse refs/remotes/origin/foo/otherbranch &&
 	git rev-parse origin/extrabranch &&
-	test_must_fail git rev-parse sometag
+	git rev-parse sometag
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'fetch tags when there is no tags' '