diff --git a/Documentation/git-imap-send.txt b/Documentation/git-imap-send.txt
index f7b18515141..dcd29f011ce 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-imap-send.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-imap-send.txt
@@ -37,16 +37,6 @@ OPTIONS
 --quiet::
 	Be quiet.
 
---curl::
-	Use libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server, unless tunneling
-	into it.  Ignored if Git was built without the USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
-	option set.
-
---no-curl::
-	Talk to the IMAP server using git's own IMAP routines instead of
-	using libcurl.  Ignored if Git was built with the NO_OPENSSL option
-	set.
-
 
 CONFIGURATION
 -------------
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index d5694f8c470..d9538bbcb45 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -129,13 +129,13 @@ Issues of note:
 	  itself, e.g. Digest::MD5, File::Spec, File::Temp, Net::Domain,
 	  Net::SMTP, and Time::HiRes.
 
-	- git-imap-send needs the OpenSSL library to talk IMAP over SSL if
-	  you are using libcurl older than 7.34.0.  Otherwise you can use
-	  NO_OPENSSL without losing git-imap-send.
+	- git-imap-send needs libcurl 7.34.0 or newer, in addition
+	  OpenSSL is needed if using the "imap.tunnel" open to tunnel
+	  over SSL. Define NO_OPENSSL to omit the OpenSSL prerequisite.
 
 	- "libcurl" library is used for fetching and pushing
 	  repositories over http:// or https://, as well as by
-	  git-imap-send if the curl version is >= 7.34.0. If you do
+	  git-imap-send. If you do
 	  not need that functionality, use NO_CURL to build without
 	  it.
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 45bd6ac9c3e..b08a855198c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -773,7 +773,9 @@ PROGRAMS += $(EXTRA_PROGRAMS)
 
 PROGRAM_OBJS += daemon.o
 PROGRAM_OBJS += http-backend.o
+ifndef NO_CURL
 PROGRAM_OBJS += imap-send.o
+endif
 PROGRAM_OBJS += sh-i18n--envsubst.o
 PROGRAM_OBJS += shell.o
 .PHONY: program-objs
@@ -1583,7 +1585,6 @@ ifdef HAVE_ALLOCA_H
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_ALLOCA_H
 endif
 
-IMAP_SEND_BUILDDEPS =
 IMAP_SEND_LDFLAGS =
 
 ifdef NO_CURL
@@ -1592,6 +1593,7 @@ ifdef NO_CURL
 	REMOTE_CURL_ALIASES =
 	REMOTE_CURL_NAMES =
 	EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS += git-http-fetch git-http-push
+	EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS += git-imap-send
 else
 	ifdef CURLDIR
 		# Try "-Wl,-rpath=$(CURLDIR)/$(lib)" in such a case.
@@ -1617,19 +1619,9 @@ else
 	REMOTE_CURL_NAMES = $(REMOTE_CURL_PRIMARY) $(REMOTE_CURL_ALIASES)
 	PROGRAM_OBJS += http-fetch.o
 	PROGRAMS += $(REMOTE_CURL_NAMES)
+	IMAP_SEND_LDFLAGS += $(CURL_LIBCURL)
 	ifndef NO_EXPAT
 		PROGRAM_OBJS += http-push.o
-	endif
-	curl_check := $(shell (echo 072200; $(CURL_CONFIG) --vernum | sed -e '/^70[BC]/s/^/0/') 2>/dev/null | sort -r | sed -ne 2p)
-	ifeq "$(curl_check)" "072200"
-		USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND = YesPlease
-	endif
-	ifdef USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
-		BASIC_CFLAGS += -DUSE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
-		IMAP_SEND_BUILDDEPS = http.o
-		IMAP_SEND_LDFLAGS += $(CURL_LIBCURL)
-	endif
-	ifndef NO_EXPAT
 		ifdef EXPATDIR
 			BASIC_CFLAGS += -I$(EXPATDIR)/include
 			EXPAT_LIBEXPAT = -L$(EXPATDIR)/$(lib) $(CC_LD_DYNPATH)$(EXPATDIR)/$(lib) -lexpat
@@ -2786,7 +2778,7 @@ endif
 git-%$X: %.o GIT-LDFLAGS $(GITLIBS)
 	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -o $@ $(ALL_LDFLAGS) $(filter %.o,$^) $(LIBS)
 
-git-imap-send$X: imap-send.o $(IMAP_SEND_BUILDDEPS) GIT-LDFLAGS $(GITLIBS)
+git-imap-send$X: imap-send.o http.o GIT-LDFLAGS $(GITLIBS)
 	$(QUIET_LINK)$(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -o $@ $(ALL_LDFLAGS) $(filter %.o,$^) \
 		$(IMAP_SEND_LDFLAGS) $(LIBS)
 
diff --git a/imap-send.c b/imap-send.c
index a50af56b827..0e36ed4f854 100644
--- a/imap-send.c
+++ b/imap-send.c
@@ -30,26 +30,16 @@
 #if defined(NO_OPENSSL) && !defined(HAVE_OPENSSL_CSPRNG)
 typedef void *SSL;
 #endif
-#ifdef USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
 #include "http.h"
-#endif
-
-#if defined(USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND)
-/* Always default to curl if it's available. */
-#define USE_CURL_DEFAULT 1
-#else
-/* We don't have curl, so continue to use the historical implementation */
-#define USE_CURL_DEFAULT 0
-#endif
 
 static int verbosity;
-static int use_curl = USE_CURL_DEFAULT;
+static int use_curl = 1;
 
 static const char * const imap_send_usage[] = { "git imap-send [-v] [-q] [--[no-]curl] < <mbox>", NULL };
 
 static struct option imap_send_options[] = {
 	OPT__VERBOSITY(&verbosity),
-	OPT_BOOL(0, "curl", &use_curl, "use libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server"),
+	OPT_HIDDEN_BOOL(0, "curl", &use_curl, "use libcurl to communicate with the IMAP server"),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
@@ -1396,7 +1386,6 @@ static int append_msgs_to_imap(struct imap_server_conf *server,
 	return 0;
 }
 
-#ifdef USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
 static CURL *setup_curl(struct imap_server_conf *srvc, struct credential *cred)
 {
 	CURL *curl;
@@ -1515,7 +1504,6 @@ static int curl_append_msgs_to_imap(struct imap_server_conf *server,
 
 	return res != CURLE_OK;
 }
-#endif
 
 int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
@@ -1531,17 +1519,8 @@ int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 	if (argc)
 		usage_with_options(imap_send_usage, imap_send_options);
 
-#ifndef USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
-	if (use_curl) {
-		warning("--curl not supported in this build");
-		use_curl = 0;
-	}
-#elif defined(NO_OPENSSL)
-	if (!use_curl) {
-		warning("--no-curl not supported in this build");
-		use_curl = 1;
-	}
-#endif
+	if (!use_curl)
+		die(_("the --no-curl option to imap-send has been deprecated"));
 
 	if (!server.port)
 		server.port = server.use_ssl ? 993 : 143;
@@ -1580,10 +1559,5 @@ int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 	if (server.tunnel)
 		return append_msgs_to_imap(&server, &all_msgs, total);
 
-#ifdef USE_CURL_FOR_IMAP_SEND
-	if (use_curl)
-		return curl_append_msgs_to_imap(&server, &all_msgs, total);
-#endif
-
-	return append_msgs_to_imap(&server, &all_msgs, total);
+	return curl_append_msgs_to_imap(&server, &all_msgs, total);
 }
