diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index d054f849606b248a82f7b29103308feab36ca9e9..89bf6ad38abbbee068ca29bad2ce2a4b728fa388 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -761,7 +761,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 		hook_arg2 = "";
 	}
 
-	s->fp = fopen(git_path(commit_editmsg), "w");
+	s->fp = fopen_for_writing(git_path(commit_editmsg));
 	if (s->fp == NULL)
 		die_errno(_("could not open '%s'"), git_path(commit_editmsg));
 
diff --git a/builtin/fast-export.c b/builtin/fast-export.c
index d9ac5d8410b30e02fbb8edb06a1991655c5be8f4..2471297f7101964c61c055b10e24a7aa4b65326a 100644
--- a/builtin/fast-export.c
+++ b/builtin/fast-export.c
@@ -880,7 +880,7 @@ static void export_marks(char *file)
 	FILE *f;
 	int e = 0;
 
-	f = fopen(file, "w");
+	f = fopen_for_writing(file);
 	if (!f)
 		die_errno("Unable to open marks file %s for writing.", file);
 
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index c85f3471d4b53ce7db7662b5531ddebe5513b7b0..9e24bb485f4ba438c8e3cd84856b13f4ab7fa927 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -837,7 +837,7 @@ static void check_not_current_branch(struct ref *ref_map)
 static int truncate_fetch_head(void)
 {
 	const char *filename = git_path_fetch_head();
-	FILE *fp = fopen(filename, "w");
+	FILE *fp = fopen_for_writing(filename);
 
 	if (!fp)
 		return error(_("cannot open %s: %s\n"), filename, strerror(errno));
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index 2da0a75a380da198bd65fe3d9b0c95ef98a0b4aa..e8f286722864e13e8d5e1ad1e7380c586e505320 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -733,6 +733,7 @@ extern int xmkstemp_mode(char *template, int mode);
 extern int odb_mkstemp(char *template, size_t limit, const char *pattern);
 extern int odb_pack_keep(char *name, size_t namesz, const unsigned char *sha1);
 extern char *xgetcwd(void);
+extern FILE *fopen_for_writing(const char *path);
 
 #define REALLOC_ARRAY(x, alloc) (x) = xrealloc((x), (alloc) * sizeof(*(x)))
 
diff --git a/wrapper.c b/wrapper.c
index c95e2906b850749cbeb109050359b671979969f2..52001789ded0372becd3f55dda4cd1226c4b6dae 100644
--- a/wrapper.c
+++ b/wrapper.c
@@ -375,6 +375,19 @@ FILE *xfdopen(int fd, const char *mode)
 	return stream;
 }
 
+FILE *fopen_for_writing(const char *path)
+{
+	FILE *ret = fopen(path, "w");
+
+	if (!ret && errno == EPERM) {
+		if (!unlink(path))
+			ret = fopen(path, "w");
+		else
+			errno = EPERM;
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+
 int xmkstemp(char *template)
 {
 	int fd;