diff --git a/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh b/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
index c983d3694c74cf6de6b7bd9a74c28d41462171f0..3932e797f7f60545e6e8c140824a5ca5ee16832a 100755
--- a/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
+++ b/t/t5530-upload-pack-error.sh
@@ -54,9 +54,6 @@ test_expect_success 'upload-pack fails due to error in rev-list' '
 	printf "0032want %s\n0034shallow %s00000009done\n0000" \
 		$(git rev-parse HEAD) $(git rev-parse HEAD^) >input &&
 	test_must_fail git upload-pack . <input >/dev/null 2>output.err &&
-	# pack-objects survived
-	grep "Total.*, reused" output.err &&
-	# but there was an error, which must have been in rev-list
 	grep "bad tree object" output.err
 '
 
diff --git a/upload-pack.c b/upload-pack.c
index 127e59a6037a14ad63648a727e873fe4a9e38381..d5a003ad1fe6f395c181a16d13b9f11b34efe2da 100644
--- a/upload-pack.c
+++ b/upload-pack.c
@@ -68,87 +68,28 @@ static ssize_t send_client_data(int fd, const char *data, ssize_t sz)
 	return sz;
 }
 
-static FILE *pack_pipe = NULL;
-static void show_commit(struct commit *commit, void *data)
-{
-	if (commit->object.flags & BOUNDARY)
-		fputc('-', pack_pipe);
-	if (fputs(sha1_to_hex(commit->object.sha1), pack_pipe) < 0)
-		die("broken output pipe");
-	fputc('\n', pack_pipe);
-	fflush(pack_pipe);
-	free(commit->buffer);
-	commit->buffer = NULL;
-}
-
-static void show_object(struct object *obj,
-			const struct name_path *path, const char *component,
-			void *cb_data)
-{
-	show_object_with_name(pack_pipe, obj, path, component);
-}
-
-static void show_edge(struct commit *commit)
-{
-	fprintf(pack_pipe, "-%s\n", sha1_to_hex(commit->object.sha1));
-}
-
-static int do_rev_list(int in, int out, void *user_data)
-{
-	int i;
-	struct rev_info revs;
-
-	pack_pipe = xfdopen(out, "w");
-	init_revisions(&revs, NULL);
-	revs.tag_objects = 1;
-	revs.tree_objects = 1;
-	revs.blob_objects = 1;
-	if (use_thin_pack)
-		revs.edge_hint = 1;
-
-	for (i = 0; i < want_obj.nr; i++) {
-		struct object *o = want_obj.objects[i].item;
-		/* why??? */
-		o->flags &= ~UNINTERESTING;
-		add_pending_object(&revs, o, NULL);
-	}
-	for (i = 0; i < have_obj.nr; i++) {
-		struct object *o = have_obj.objects[i].item;
-		o->flags |= UNINTERESTING;
-		add_pending_object(&revs, o, NULL);
-	}
-	setup_revisions(0, NULL, &revs, NULL);
-	if (prepare_revision_walk(&revs))
-		die("revision walk setup failed");
-	mark_edges_uninteresting(revs.commits, &revs, show_edge);
-	if (use_thin_pack)
-		for (i = 0; i < extra_edge_obj.nr; i++)
-			fprintf(pack_pipe, "-%s\n", sha1_to_hex(
-					extra_edge_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
-	traverse_commit_list(&revs, show_commit, show_object, NULL);
-	fflush(pack_pipe);
-	fclose(pack_pipe);
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static void create_pack_file(void)
 {
-	struct async rev_list;
 	struct child_process pack_objects;
 	char data[8193], progress[128];
 	char abort_msg[] = "aborting due to possible repository "
 		"corruption on the remote side.";
 	int buffered = -1;
 	ssize_t sz;
-	const char *argv[10];
-	int arg = 0;
+	const char *argv[12];
+	int i, arg = 0;
+	FILE *pipe_fd;
+	char *shallow_file = NULL;
 
-	argv[arg++] = "pack-objects";
-	if (!shallow_nr) {
-		argv[arg++] = "--revs";
-		if (use_thin_pack)
-			argv[arg++] = "--thin";
+	if (shallow_nr) {
+		shallow_file = setup_temporary_shallow();
+		argv[arg++] = "--shallow-file";
+		argv[arg++] = shallow_file;
 	}
+	argv[arg++] = "pack-objects";
+	argv[arg++] = "--revs";
+	if (use_thin_pack)
+		argv[arg++] = "--thin";
 
 	argv[arg++] = "--stdout";
 	if (!no_progress)
@@ -169,29 +110,21 @@ static void create_pack_file(void)
 	if (start_command(&pack_objects))
 		die("git upload-pack: unable to fork git-pack-objects");
 
-	if (shallow_nr) {
-		memset(&rev_list, 0, sizeof(rev_list));
-		rev_list.proc = do_rev_list;
-		rev_list.out = pack_objects.in;
-		if (start_async(&rev_list))
-			die("git upload-pack: unable to fork git-rev-list");
-	}
-	else {
-		FILE *pipe_fd = xfdopen(pack_objects.in, "w");
-		int i;
-
-		for (i = 0; i < want_obj.nr; i++)
-			fprintf(pipe_fd, "%s\n",
-				sha1_to_hex(want_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
-		fprintf(pipe_fd, "--not\n");
-		for (i = 0; i < have_obj.nr; i++)
-			fprintf(pipe_fd, "%s\n",
-				sha1_to_hex(have_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
-		fprintf(pipe_fd, "\n");
-		fflush(pipe_fd);
-		fclose(pipe_fd);
-	}
-
+	pipe_fd = xfdopen(pack_objects.in, "w");
+
+	for (i = 0; i < want_obj.nr; i++)
+		fprintf(pipe_fd, "%s\n",
+			sha1_to_hex(want_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
+	fprintf(pipe_fd, "--not\n");
+	for (i = 0; i < have_obj.nr; i++)
+		fprintf(pipe_fd, "%s\n",
+			sha1_to_hex(have_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
+	for (i = 0; i < extra_edge_obj.nr; i++)
+		fprintf(pipe_fd, "%s\n",
+			sha1_to_hex(extra_edge_obj.objects[i].item->sha1));
+	fprintf(pipe_fd, "\n");
+	fflush(pipe_fd);
+	fclose(pipe_fd);
 
 	/* We read from pack_objects.err to capture stderr output for
 	 * progress bar, and pack_objects.out to capture the pack data.
@@ -290,8 +223,11 @@ static void create_pack_file(void)
 		error("git upload-pack: git-pack-objects died with error.");
 		goto fail;
 	}
-	if (shallow_nr && finish_async(&rev_list))
-		goto fail;	/* error was already reported */
+	if (shallow_file) {
+		if (*shallow_file)
+			unlink(shallow_file);
+		free(shallow_file);
+	}
 
 	/* flush the data */
 	if (0 <= buffered) {