diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 7ee1ba5a0007042f6e89594d3f4cb7b268663c90..95e3b8bec87ea5caba7d0b293eb7c34184c86f7a 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -899,7 +899,6 @@ int http_fetch_ref(const char *base, struct ref *ref)
 static int fetch_pack_index(unsigned char *sha1, const char *base_url)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
-	char *hex = xstrdup(sha1_to_hex(sha1));
 	char *filename;
 	char *url = NULL;
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
@@ -910,10 +909,10 @@ static int fetch_pack_index(unsigned char *sha1, const char *base_url)
 	}
 
 	if (http_is_verbose)
-		fprintf(stderr, "Getting index for pack %s\n", hex);
+		fprintf(stderr, "Getting index for pack %s\n", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
 
 	end_url_with_slash(&buf, base_url);
-	strbuf_addf(&buf, "objects/pack/pack-%s.idx", hex);
+	strbuf_addf(&buf, "objects/pack/pack-%s.idx", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
 	url = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
 
 	filename = sha1_pack_index_name(sha1);
@@ -921,7 +920,6 @@ static int fetch_pack_index(unsigned char *sha1, const char *base_url)
 		ret = error("Unable to get pack index %s\n", url);
 
 cleanup:
-	free(hex);
 	free(url);
 	return ret;
 }