diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 6049f86711..3f6ae242df 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1734,8 +1734,7 @@ static inline ssize_t write_str_in_full(int fd, const char *str)
 	return write_in_full(fd, str, strlen(str));
 }
 
-extern int write_file(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...);
-extern int write_file_gently(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...);
+extern void write_file(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...);
 
 /* pager.c */
 extern void setup_pager(void);
diff --git a/wrapper.c b/wrapper.c
index 5dc4e15aa9..0349441bde 100644
--- a/wrapper.c
+++ b/wrapper.c
@@ -640,56 +640,24 @@ int xsnprintf(char *dst, size_t max, const char *fmt, ...)
 	return len;
 }
 
-static int write_file_v(const char *path, int fatal,
-			const char *fmt, va_list params)
+void write_file(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
+	va_list params;
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 	int fd = open(path, O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666);
-	if (fd < 0) {
-		if (fatal)
-			die_errno(_("could not open %s for writing"), path);
-		return -1;
-	}
+	if (fd < 0)
+		die_errno(_("could not open %s for writing"), path);
+
+	va_start(params, fmt);
 	strbuf_vaddf(&sb, fmt, params);
+	va_end(params);
+
 	strbuf_complete_line(&sb);
-	if (write_in_full(fd, sb.buf, sb.len) != sb.len) {
-		int err = errno;
-		close(fd);
-		strbuf_release(&sb);
-		errno = err;
-		if (fatal)
-			die_errno(_("could not write to %s"), path);
-		return -1;
-	}
+	if (write_in_full(fd, sb.buf, sb.len) != sb.len)
+		die_errno(_("could not write to %s"), path);
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
-	if (close(fd)) {
-		if (fatal)
-			die_errno(_("could not close %s"), path);
-		return -1;
-	}
-	return 0;
-}
-
-int write_file(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...)
-{
-	int status;
-	va_list params;
-
-	va_start(params, fmt);
-	status = write_file_v(path, 1, fmt, params);
-	va_end(params);
-	return status;
-}
-
-int write_file_gently(const char *path, const char *fmt, ...)
-{
-	int status;
-	va_list params;
-
-	va_start(params, fmt);
-	status = write_file_v(path, 0, fmt, params);
-	va_end(params);
-	return status;
+	if (close(fd))
+		die_errno(_("could not close %s"), path);
 }
 
 void sleep_millisec(int millisec)