diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 16b34799bfd..8c5fb1e1ba1 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1785,20 +1785,6 @@ int copy_fd(int ifd, int ofd);
 int copy_file(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode);
 int copy_file_with_time(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode);
 
-/*
- * Compare the file mode and contents of two given files.
- *
- * If both files are actually symbolic links, the function returns 1 if the link
- * targets are identical or 0 if they are not.
- *
- * If any of the two files cannot be accessed or in case of read failures, this
- * function returns 0.
- *
- * If the file modes and contents are identical, the function returns 1,
- * otherwise it returns 0.
- */
-int do_files_match(const char *path1, const char *path2);
-
 void write_or_die(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);
 void fsync_or_die(int fd, const char *);
 int fsync_component(enum fsync_component component, int fd);
diff --git a/copy.c b/copy.c
index 8492f6fc831..4de6a110f09 100644
--- a/copy.c
+++ b/copy.c
@@ -65,61 +65,3 @@ int copy_file_with_time(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode)
 		return copy_times(dst, src);
 	return status;
 }
-
-static int do_symlinks_match(const char *path1, const char *path2)
-{
-	struct strbuf buf1 = STRBUF_INIT, buf2 = STRBUF_INIT;
-	int ret = 0;
-
-	if (!strbuf_readlink(&buf1, path1, 0) &&
-	    !strbuf_readlink(&buf2, path2, 0))
-		ret = !strcmp(buf1.buf, buf2.buf);
-
-	strbuf_release(&buf1);
-	strbuf_release(&buf2);
-	return ret;
-}
-
-int do_files_match(const char *path1, const char *path2)
-{
-	struct stat st1, st2;
-	int fd1 = -1, fd2 = -1, ret = 1;
-	char buf1[8192], buf2[8192];
-
-	if ((fd1 = open_nofollow(path1, O_RDONLY)) < 0 ||
-	    fstat(fd1, &st1) || !S_ISREG(st1.st_mode)) {
-		if (fd1 < 0 && errno == ELOOP)
-			/* maybe this is a symbolic link? */
-			return do_symlinks_match(path1, path2);
-		ret = 0;
-	} else if ((fd2 = open_nofollow(path2, O_RDONLY)) < 0 ||
-		   fstat(fd2, &st2) || !S_ISREG(st2.st_mode)) {
-		ret = 0;
-	}
-
-	if (ret)
-		/* to match, neither must be executable, or both */
-		ret = !(st1.st_mode & 0111) == !(st2.st_mode & 0111);
-
-	if (ret)
-		ret = st1.st_size == st2.st_size;
-
-	while (ret) {
-		ssize_t len1 = read_in_full(fd1, buf1, sizeof(buf1));
-		ssize_t len2 = read_in_full(fd2, buf2, sizeof(buf2));
-
-		if (len1 < 0 || len2 < 0 || len1 != len2)
-			ret = 0; /* read error or different file size */
-		else if (!len1) /* len2 is also 0; hit EOF on both */
-			break; /* ret is still true */
-		else
-			ret = !memcmp(buf1, buf2, len1);
-	}
-
-	if (fd1 >= 0)
-		close(fd1);
-	if (fd2 >= 0)
-		close(fd2);
-
-	return ret;
-}
diff --git a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
index 0e0de218076..f69709d674f 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
@@ -495,16 +495,6 @@ int cmd__path_utils(int argc, const char **argv)
 		return !!res;
 	}
 
-	if (argc == 4 && !strcmp(argv[1], "do_files_match")) {
-		int ret = do_files_match(argv[2], argv[3]);
-
-		if (ret)
-			printf("equal\n");
-		else
-			printf("different\n");
-		return !ret;
-	}
-
 	fprintf(stderr, "%s: unknown function name: %s\n", argv[0],
 		argv[1] ? argv[1] : "(there was none)");
 	return 1;
diff --git a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
index 73d0e1a7f10..68e29c904a6 100755
--- a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
+++ b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
@@ -560,45 +560,4 @@ test_expect_success !VALGRIND,RUNTIME_PREFIX,CAN_EXEC_IN_PWD '%(prefix)/ works'
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'do_files_match()' '
-	test_seq 0 10 >0-10.txt &&
-	test_seq -1 10 >-1-10.txt &&
-	test_seq 1 10 >1-10.txt &&
-	test_seq 1 9 >1-9.txt &&
-	test_seq 0 8 >0-8.txt &&
-
-	test-tool path-utils do_files_match 0-10.txt 0-10.txt >out &&
-
-	assert_fails() {
-		test_must_fail \
-		test-tool path-utils do_files_match "$1" "$2" >out &&
-		grep different out
-	} &&
-
-	assert_fails 0-8.txt 1-9.txt &&
-	assert_fails -1-10.txt 0-10.txt &&
-	assert_fails 1-10.txt 1-9.txt &&
-	assert_fails 1-10.txt .git &&
-	assert_fails does-not-exist 1-10.txt &&
-
-	if test_have_prereq FILEMODE
-	then
-		cp 0-10.txt 0-10.x &&
-		chmod a+x 0-10.x &&
-		assert_fails 0-10.txt 0-10.x
-	fi &&
-
-	if test_have_prereq SYMLINKS
-	then
-		ln -sf 0-10.txt symlink &&
-		ln -s 0-10.txt another-symlink &&
-		ln -s over-the-ocean yet-another-symlink &&
-		ln -s "$PWD/0-10.txt" absolute-symlink &&
-		assert_fails 0-10.txt symlink &&
-		test-tool path-utils do_files_match symlink another-symlink &&
-		assert_fails symlink yet-another-symlink &&
-		assert_fails symlink absolute-symlink
-	fi
-'
-
 test_done
