diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 13311f1d5e..1c57d4c958 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@ git-mktag
 git-mktree
 git-name-rev
 git-mv
-git-notes
 git-pack-redundant
 git-pack-objects
 git-pack-refs
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes-1.6.2.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes-1.6.2.txt
index f1bfa82749..b86b684d23 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes-1.6.2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes-1.6.2.txt
@@ -37,8 +37,6 @@ Updates since v1.6.1
 
 * automatic typo correction works on aliases as well
 
-* Initial support for "git notes" implemented.
-
 * @{-1} is a way to refer to the last branch you were on.  This is
   accepted not only where an object name is expected, but anywhere
   a branch name is expected.  E.g. "git branch --track mybranch @{-1}"
diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 1dd18c928d..1806a60610 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -422,19 +422,6 @@ relatively high IO latencies.  With this set to 'true', git will do the
 index comparison to the filesystem data in parallel, allowing
 overlapping IO's.
 
-core.notesRef::
-	When showing commit messages, also show notes which are stored in
-	the given ref.  This ref is expected to contain files named
-	after the full SHA-1 of the commit they annotate.
-+
-If such a file exists in the given ref, the referenced blob is read, and
-appended to the commit message, separated by a "Notes:" line.  If the
-given ref itself does not exist, it is not an error, but means that no
-notes should be printed.
-+
-This setting defaults to "refs/notes/commits", and can be overridden by
-the `GIT_NOTES_REF` environment variable.
-
 alias.*::
 	Command aliases for the linkgit:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
 	after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
diff --git a/Documentation/git-notes.txt b/Documentation/git-notes.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 3d93625f9a..0000000000
--- a/Documentation/git-notes.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-git-notes(1)
-============
-
-NAME
-----
-git-notes - Add/inspect commit notes
-
-SYNOPSIS
---------
-[verse]
-'git-notes' (edit | show) [commit]
-
-DESCRIPTION
------------
-This command allows you to add notes to commit messages, without
-changing the commit.  To discern these notes from the message stored
-in the commit object, the notes are indented like the message, after
-an unindented line saying "Notes:".
-
-To disable commit notes, you have to set the config variable
-core.notesRef to the empty string.  Alternatively, you can set it
-to a different ref, something like "refs/notes/bugzilla".  This setting
-can be overridden by the environment variable "GIT_NOTES_REF".
-
-
-SUBCOMMANDS
------------
-
-edit::
-	Edit the notes for a given commit (defaults to HEAD).
-
-show::
-	Show the notes for a given commit (defaults to HEAD).
-
-
-Author
-------
-Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
-
-Documentation
--------------
-Documentation by Johannes Schindelin
-
-GIT
----
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 27b9569746..627d4d09ba 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -265,7 +265,6 @@ SCRIPT_SH += git-merge-octopus.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-merge-one-file.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-merge-resolve.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-mergetool.sh
-SCRIPT_SH += git-notes.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-parse-remote.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-pull.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-quiltimport.sh
@@ -378,7 +377,6 @@ LIB_H += ll-merge.h
 LIB_H += log-tree.h
 LIB_H += mailmap.h
 LIB_H += merge-recursive.h
-LIB_H += notes.h
 LIB_H += object.h
 LIB_H += pack.h
 LIB_H += pack-refs.h
@@ -461,7 +459,6 @@ LIB_OBJS += match-trees.o
 LIB_OBJS += merge-file.o
 LIB_OBJS += merge-recursive.o
 LIB_OBJS += name-hash.o
-LIB_OBJS += notes.o
 LIB_OBJS += object.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-check.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-refs.o
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 7f1a6e8bd0..a7f435ddef 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -371,8 +371,6 @@ static inline enum object_type object_type(unsigned int mode)
 #define GITATTRIBUTES_FILE ".gitattributes"
 #define INFOATTRIBUTES_FILE "info/attributes"
 #define ATTRIBUTE_MACRO_PREFIX "[attr]"
-#define GIT_NOTES_REF_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_NOTES_REF"
-#define GIT_NOTES_DEFAULT_REF "refs/notes/commits"
 
 extern int is_bare_repository_cfg;
 extern int is_bare_repository(void);
@@ -544,7 +542,6 @@ enum rebase_setup_type {
 
 extern enum branch_track git_branch_track;
 extern enum rebase_setup_type autorebase;
-extern char *notes_ref_name;
 
 #define GIT_REPO_VERSION 0
 extern int repository_format_version;
diff --git a/command-list.txt b/command-list.txt
index 2dc2c3320c..3583a33ee9 100644
--- a/command-list.txt
+++ b/command-list.txt
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ git-mktag                               plumbingmanipulators
 git-mktree                              plumbingmanipulators
 git-mv                                  mainporcelain common
 git-name-rev                            plumbinginterrogators
-git-notes                               mainporcelain
 git-pack-objects                        plumbingmanipulators
 git-pack-redundant                      plumbinginterrogators
 git-pack-refs                           ancillarymanipulators
diff --git a/commit.c b/commit.c
index cf72143f58..aa3b35b6a8 100644
--- a/commit.c
+++ b/commit.c
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #include "utf8.h"
 #include "diff.h"
 #include "revision.h"
-#include "notes.h"
 
 int save_commit_buffer = 1;
 
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index e5d5b4bd06..790405a213 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -469,11 +469,6 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	if (!strcmp(var, "core.notesref")) {
-		notes_ref_name = xstrdup(value);
-		return 0;
-	}
-
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.pager"))
 		return git_config_string(&pager_program, var, value);
 
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 0edae21e74..e278bce0ea 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ enum rebase_setup_type autorebase = AUTOREBASE_NEVER;
 
 /* Parallel index stat data preload? */
 int core_preload_index = 0;
-char *notes_ref_name;
 
 /* This is set by setup_git_dir_gently() and/or git_default_config() */
 char *git_work_tree_cfg;
diff --git a/git-notes.sh b/git-notes.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index bfdbaa8527..0000000000
--- a/git-notes.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-USAGE="(edit | show) [commit]"
-. git-sh-setup
-
-test -n "$3" && usage
-
-test -z "$1" && usage
-ACTION="$1"; shift
-
-test -z "$GIT_NOTES_REF" && GIT_NOTES_REF="$(git config core.notesref)"
-test -z "$GIT_NOTES_REF" && GIT_NOTES_REF="refs/notes/commits"
-
-COMMIT=$(git rev-parse --verify --default HEAD "$@") ||
-die "Invalid commit: $@"
-
-MESSAGE="$GIT_DIR"/new-notes-$COMMIT
-trap '
-	test -f "$MESSAGE" && rm "$MESSAGE"
-' 0
-
-case "$ACTION" in
-edit)
-	GIT_NOTES_REF= git log -1 $COMMIT | sed "s/^/#/" > "$MESSAGE"
-
-	GIT_INDEX_FILE="$MESSAGE".idx
-	export GIT_INDEX_FILE
-
-	CURRENT_HEAD=$(git show-ref "$GIT_NOTES_REF" | cut -f 1 -d ' ')
-	if [ -z "$CURRENT_HEAD" ]; then
-		PARENT=
-	else
-		PARENT="-p $CURRENT_HEAD"
-		git read-tree "$GIT_NOTES_REF" || die "Could not read index"
-		git cat-file blob :$COMMIT >> "$MESSAGE" 2> /dev/null
-	fi
-
-	${VISUAL:-${EDITOR:-vi}} "$MESSAGE"
-
-	grep -v ^# < "$MESSAGE" | git stripspace > "$MESSAGE".processed
-	mv "$MESSAGE".processed "$MESSAGE"
-	if [ -s "$MESSAGE" ]; then
-		BLOB=$(git hash-object -w "$MESSAGE") ||
-			die "Could not write into object database"
-		git update-index --add --cacheinfo 0644 $BLOB $COMMIT ||
-			die "Could not write index"
-	else
-		test -z "$CURRENT_HEAD" &&
-			die "Will not initialise with empty tree"
-		git update-index --force-remove $COMMIT ||
-			die "Could not update index"
-	fi
-
-	TREE=$(git write-tree) || die "Could not write tree"
-	NEW_HEAD=$(echo Annotate $COMMIT | git commit-tree $TREE $PARENT) ||
-		die "Could not annotate"
-	git update-ref -m "Annotate $COMMIT" \
-		"$GIT_NOTES_REF" $NEW_HEAD $CURRENT_HEAD
-;;
-show)
-	git show "$GIT_NOTES_REF":$COMMIT
-;;
-*)
-	usage
-esac
diff --git a/notes.c b/notes.c
deleted file mode 100644
index bd737842d9..0000000000
--- a/notes.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,160 +0,0 @@
-#include "cache.h"
-#include "commit.h"
-#include "notes.h"
-#include "refs.h"
-#include "utf8.h"
-#include "strbuf.h"
-#include "tree-walk.h"
-
-struct entry {
-	unsigned char commit_sha1[20];
-	unsigned char notes_sha1[20];
-};
-
-struct hash_map {
-	struct entry *entries;
-	off_t count, size;
-};
-
-static int initialized;
-static struct hash_map hash_map;
-
-static int hash_index(struct hash_map *map, const unsigned char *sha1)
-{
-	int i = ((*(unsigned int *)sha1) % map->size);
-
-	for (;;) {
-		unsigned char *current = map->entries[i].commit_sha1;
-
-		if (!hashcmp(sha1, current))
-			return i;
-
-		if (is_null_sha1(current))
-			return -1 - i;
-
-		if (++i == map->size)
-			i = 0;
-	}
-}
-
-static void add_entry(const unsigned char *commit_sha1,
-		const unsigned char *notes_sha1)
-{
-	int index;
-
-	if (hash_map.count + 1 > hash_map.size >> 1) {
-		int i, old_size = hash_map.size;
-		struct entry *old = hash_map.entries;
-
-		hash_map.size = old_size ? old_size << 1 : 64;
-		hash_map.entries = (struct entry *)
-			xcalloc(sizeof(struct entry), hash_map.size);
-
-		for (i = 0; i < old_size; i++)
-			if (!is_null_sha1(old[i].commit_sha1)) {
-				index = -1 - hash_index(&hash_map,
-						old[i].commit_sha1);
-				memcpy(hash_map.entries + index, old + i,
-					sizeof(struct entry));
-			}
-		free(old);
-	}
-
-	index = hash_index(&hash_map, commit_sha1);
-	if (index < 0) {
-		index = -1 - index;
-		hash_map.count++;
-	}
-
-	hashcpy(hash_map.entries[index].commit_sha1, commit_sha1);
-	hashcpy(hash_map.entries[index].notes_sha1, notes_sha1);
-}
-
-static void initialize_hash_map(const char *notes_ref_name)
-{
-	unsigned char sha1[20], commit_sha1[20];
-	unsigned mode;
-	struct tree_desc desc;
-	struct name_entry entry;
-	void *buf;
-
-	if (!notes_ref_name || read_ref(notes_ref_name, commit_sha1) ||
-	    get_tree_entry(commit_sha1, "", sha1, &mode))
-		return;
-
-	buf = fill_tree_descriptor(&desc, sha1);
-	if (!buf)
-		die("Could not read %s for notes-index", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
-
-	while (tree_entry(&desc, &entry))
-		if (!get_sha1(entry.path, commit_sha1))
-			add_entry(commit_sha1, entry.sha1);
-	free(buf);
-}
-
-static unsigned char *lookup_notes(const unsigned char *commit_sha1)
-{
-	int index;
-
-	if (!hash_map.size)
-		return NULL;
-
-	index = hash_index(&hash_map, commit_sha1);
-	if (index < 0)
-		return NULL;
-	return hash_map.entries[index].notes_sha1;
-}
-
-void get_commit_notes(const struct commit *commit, struct strbuf *sb,
-		const char *output_encoding)
-{
-	static const char *utf8 = "utf-8";
-	unsigned char *sha1;
-	char *msg, *msg_p;
-	unsigned long linelen, msglen;
-	enum object_type type;
-
-	if (!initialized) {
-		const char *env = getenv(GIT_NOTES_REF_ENVIRONMENT);
-		if (env)
-			notes_ref_name = getenv(GIT_NOTES_REF_ENVIRONMENT);
-		else if (!notes_ref_name)
-			notes_ref_name = GIT_NOTES_DEFAULT_REF;
-		initialize_hash_map(notes_ref_name);
-		initialized = 1;
-	}
-
-	sha1 = lookup_notes(commit->object.sha1);
-	if (!sha1)
-		return;
-
-	if (!(msg = read_sha1_file(sha1, &type, &msglen)) || !msglen ||
-			type != OBJ_BLOB)
-		return;
-
-	if (output_encoding && *output_encoding &&
-			strcmp(utf8, output_encoding)) {
-		char *reencoded = reencode_string(msg, output_encoding, utf8);
-		if (reencoded) {
-			free(msg);
-			msg = reencoded;
-			msglen = strlen(msg);
-		}
-	}
-
-	/* we will end the annotation by a newline anyway */
-	if (msglen && msg[msglen - 1] == '\n')
-		msglen--;
-
-	strbuf_addstr(sb, "\nNotes:\n");
-
-	for (msg_p = msg; msg_p < msg + msglen; msg_p += linelen + 1) {
-		linelen = strchrnul(msg_p, '\n') - msg_p;
-
-		strbuf_addstr(sb, "    ");
-		strbuf_add(sb, msg_p, linelen);
-		strbuf_addch(sb, '\n');
-	}
-
-	free(msg);
-}
diff --git a/notes.h b/notes.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 79d21b65f5..0000000000
--- a/notes.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-#ifndef NOTES_H
-#define NOTES_H
-
-void get_commit_notes(const struct commit *commit, struct strbuf *sb,
-		const char *output_encoding);
-
-#endif
diff --git a/pretty.c b/pretty.c
index 8d4dbc9fbb..cc460b5697 100644
--- a/pretty.c
+++ b/pretty.c
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 #include "string-list.h"
 #include "mailmap.h"
 #include "log-tree.h"
-#include "notes.h"
 #include "color.h"
 
 static char *user_format;
@@ -921,9 +920,5 @@ void pretty_print_commit(enum cmit_fmt fmt, const struct commit *commit,
 	 */
 	if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_EMAIL && sb->len <= beginning_of_body)
 		strbuf_addch(sb, '\n');
-
-	if (fmt != CMIT_FMT_ONELINE)
-		get_commit_notes(commit, sb, encoding);
-
 	free(reencoded);
 }
diff --git a/t/t3301-notes.sh b/t/t3301-notes.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 9393a25511..0000000000
--- a/t/t3301-notes.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,95 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# Copyright (c) 2007 Johannes E. Schindelin
-#
-
-test_description='Test commit notes'
-
-. ./test-lib.sh
-
-cat > fake_editor.sh << \EOF
-echo "$MSG" > "$1"
-echo "$MSG" >& 2
-EOF
-chmod a+x fake_editor.sh
-VISUAL=./fake_editor.sh
-export VISUAL
-
-test_expect_success 'cannot annotate non-existing HEAD' '
-	! MSG=3 git notes edit
-'
-
-test_expect_success setup '
-	: > a1 &&
-	git add a1 &&
-	test_tick &&
-	git commit -m 1st &&
-	: > a2 &&
-	git add a2 &&
-	test_tick &&
-	git commit -m 2nd
-'
-
-test_expect_success 'need valid notes ref' '
-	! MSG=1 GIT_NOTES_REF='/' git notes edit &&
-	! MSG=2 GIT_NOTES_REF='/' git notes show
-'
-
-test_expect_success 'create notes' '
-	git config core.notesRef refs/notes/commits &&
-	MSG=b1 git notes edit &&
-	test ! -f .git/new-notes &&
-	test 1 = $(git ls-tree refs/notes/commits | wc -l) &&
-	test b1 = $(git notes show) &&
-	git show HEAD^ &&
-	! git notes show HEAD^
-'
-
-cat > expect << EOF
-commit 268048bfb8a1fb38e703baceb8ab235421bf80c5
-Author: A U Thor <author@example.com>
-Date:   Thu Apr 7 15:14:13 2005 -0700
-
-    2nd
-
-Notes:
-    b1
-EOF
-
-test_expect_success 'show notes' '
-	! (git cat-file commit HEAD | grep b1) &&
-	git log -1 > output &&
-	test_cmp expect output
-'
-test_expect_success 'create multi-line notes (setup)' '
-	: > a3 &&
-	git add a3 &&
-	test_tick &&
-	git commit -m 3rd &&
-	MSG="b3
-c3c3c3c3
-d3d3d3" git notes edit
-'
-
-cat > expect-multiline << EOF
-commit 1584215f1d29c65e99c6c6848626553fdd07fd75
-Author: A U Thor <author@example.com>
-Date:   Thu Apr 7 15:15:13 2005 -0700
-
-    3rd
-
-Notes:
-    b3
-    c3c3c3c3
-    d3d3d3
-EOF
-
-printf "\n" >> expect-multiline
-cat expect >> expect-multiline
-
-test_expect_success 'show multi-line notes' '
-	git log -2 > output &&
-	test_cmp expect-multiline output
-'
-
-test_done
diff --git a/t/t3302-notes-index-expensive.sh b/t/t3302-notes-index-expensive.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 00d27bf6ef..0000000000
--- a/t/t3302-notes-index-expensive.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,98 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# Copyright (c) 2007 Johannes E. Schindelin
-#
-
-test_description='Test commit notes index (expensive!)'
-
-. ./test-lib.sh
-
-test -z "$GIT_NOTES_TIMING_TESTS" && {
-	say Skipping timing tests
-	test_done
-	exit
-}
-
-create_repo () {
-	number_of_commits=$1
-	nr=0
-	parent=
-	test -d .git || {
-	git init &&
-	tree=$(git write-tree) &&
-	while [ $nr -lt $number_of_commits ]; do
-		test_tick &&
-		commit=$(echo $nr | git commit-tree $tree $parent) ||
-			return
-		parent="-p $commit"
-		nr=$(($nr+1))
-	done &&
-	git update-ref refs/heads/master $commit &&
-	{
-		export GIT_INDEX_FILE=.git/temp;
-		git rev-list HEAD | cat -n | sed "s/^[ 	][ 	]*/ /g" |
-		while read nr sha1; do
-			blob=$(echo note $nr | git hash-object -w --stdin) &&
-			echo $sha1 | sed "s/^/0644 $blob 0	/"
-		done | git update-index --index-info &&
-		tree=$(git write-tree) &&
-		test_tick &&
-		commit=$(echo notes | git commit-tree $tree) &&
-		git update-ref refs/notes/commits $commit
-	} &&
-	git config core.notesRef refs/notes/commits
-	}
-}
-
-test_notes () {
-	count=$1 &&
-	git config core.notesRef refs/notes/commits &&
-	git log | grep "^    " > output &&
-	i=1 &&
-	while [ $i -le $count ]; do
-		echo "    $(($count-$i))" &&
-		echo "    note $i" &&
-		i=$(($i+1));
-	done > expect &&
-	git diff expect output
-}
-
-cat > time_notes << \EOF
-	mode=$1
-	i=1
-	while [ $i -lt $2 ]; do
-		case $1 in
-		no-notes)
-			export GIT_NOTES_REF=non-existing
-		;;
-		notes)
-			unset GIT_NOTES_REF
-		;;
-		esac
-		git log >/dev/null
-		i=$(($i+1))
-	done
-EOF
-
-time_notes () {
-	for mode in no-notes notes
-	do
-		echo $mode
-		/usr/bin/time sh ../time_notes $mode $1
-	done
-}
-
-for count in 10 100 1000 10000; do
-
-	mkdir $count
-	(cd $count;
-
-	test_expect_success "setup $count" "create_repo $count"
-
-	test_expect_success 'notes work' "test_notes $count"
-
-	test_expect_success 'notes timing' "time_notes 100"
-	)
-done
-
-test_done