diff --git a/Documentation/BreakingChanges.adoc b/Documentation/BreakingChanges.adoc
index f814450d2f65ac..af59c43f42c8e6 100644
--- a/Documentation/BreakingChanges.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/BreakingChanges.adoc
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ milestones for the introduction of Rust:
 1. Initially, with Git 2.52, support for Rust will be auto-detected by Meson and
    disabled in our Makefile so that the project can sort out the initial
    infrastructure.
-2. In Git 2.53, both build systems will default-enable support for Rust.
+2. In Git 2.55, both build systems will default-enable support for Rust.
    Consequently, builds will break by default if Rust is not available on the
    build host. The use of Rust can still be explicitly disabled via build
    flags.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-archive.adoc b/Documentation/git-archive.adoc
index a0e3fe7996e57b..086bade6d8d8a2 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-archive.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-archive.adoc
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ OPTIONS
 	Prepend <prefix>/ to paths in the archive.  Can be repeated; its
 	rightmost value is used for all tracked files.  See below which
 	value gets used by `--add-file`.
++
+The <prefix> is used as given and is not normalized. It may
+include leading slashes or parent directory components (e.g.,
+`../`). Some archive consumers may treat such paths as
+potentially unsafe and adjust or warn during extraction.
 
 -o <file>::
 --output=<file>::
diff --git a/Documentation/ref-storage-format.adoc b/Documentation/ref-storage-format.adoc
index 6a8db4712bd3f6..c5e29ec831e0c5 100644
--- a/Documentation/ref-storage-format.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/ref-storage-format.adoc
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
-`files`;; for loose files with packed-refs. This is the default.
-`reftable`;; for the reftable format. This format is experimental and its
-  internals are subject to change.
+`files`;; for loose files with packed-refs.
+ifndef::with-breaking-changes[]
+	This is the default.
+endif::with-breaking-changes[]
+`reftable`;; for the reftable format.
+ifdef::with-breaking-changes[]
+	This is the default.
+endif::with-breaking-changes[]
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5d22394c2ec1a6..cedc234173e377 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2029,10 +2029,6 @@ ifdef NO_PREAD
 	COMPAT_CFLAGS += -DNO_PREAD
 	COMPAT_OBJS += compat/pread.o
 endif
-ifdef NO_WRITEV
-	COMPAT_CFLAGS += -DNO_WRITEV
-	COMPAT_OBJS += compat/writev.o
-endif
 ifdef NO_FAST_WORKING_DIRECTORY
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DNO_FAST_WORKING_DIRECTORY
 endif
diff --git a/compat/posix.h b/compat/posix.h
index 94699a03fa5d69..faaae1b6555d1b 100644
--- a/compat/posix.h
+++ b/compat/posix.h
@@ -137,9 +137,6 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
 #include <sys/statvfs.h>
-#ifndef NO_WRITEV
-#include <sys/uio.h>
-#endif
 #include <termios.h>
 #ifndef NO_SYS_SELECT_H
 #include <sys/select.h>
@@ -326,17 +323,6 @@ int git_lstat(const char *, struct stat *);
 ssize_t git_pread(int fd, void *buf, size_t count, off_t offset);
 #endif
 
-#ifdef NO_WRITEV
-#define writev git_writev
-#define iovec git_iovec
-struct git_iovec {
-	void *iov_base;
-	size_t iov_len;
-};
-
-ssize_t git_writev(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt);
-#endif
-
 #ifdef NO_SETENV
 #define setenv gitsetenv
 int gitsetenv(const char *, const char *, int);
diff --git a/compat/writev.c b/compat/writev.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 3a94870a2f5855..00000000000000
--- a/compat/writev.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-#include "../git-compat-util.h"
-#include "../wrapper.h"
-
-ssize_t git_writev(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt)
-{
-	size_t total_written = 0;
-	size_t sum = 0;
-
-	/*
-	 * According to writev(3p), the syscall shall error with EINVAL in case
-	 * the sum of `iov_len` overflows `ssize_t`.
-	 */
-	 for (int i = 0; i < iovcnt; i++) {
-		if (iov[i].iov_len > maximum_signed_value_of_type(ssize_t) ||
-		    iov[i].iov_len + sum > maximum_signed_value_of_type(ssize_t)) {
-			errno = EINVAL;
-			return -1;
-		}
-
-		sum += iov[i].iov_len;
-	}
-
-	for (int i = 0; i < iovcnt; i++) {
-		const char *bytes = iov[i].iov_base;
-		size_t iovec_written = 0;
-
-		while (iovec_written < iov[i].iov_len) {
-			ssize_t bytes_written = xwrite(fd, bytes + iovec_written,
-						       iov[i].iov_len - iovec_written);
-			if (bytes_written < 0) {
-				if (total_written)
-					goto out;
-				return bytes_written;
-			}
-			if (!bytes_written)
-				goto out;
-			iovec_written += bytes_written;
-			total_written += bytes_written;
-		}
-	}
-
-out:
-	return (ssize_t) total_written;
-}
diff --git a/config.mak.uname b/config.mak.uname
index ccb3f718812740..5feb5825587e65 100644
--- a/config.mak.uname
+++ b/config.mak.uname
@@ -459,7 +459,6 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Windows)
 	SANE_TOOL_PATH ?= $(msvc_bin_dir_msys)
 	HAVE_ALLOCA_H = YesPlease
 	NO_PREAD = YesPlease
-	NO_WRITEV = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_CRYPTO_WITH_SSL = YesPlease
 	NO_LIBGEN_H = YesPlease
 	NO_POLL = YesPlease
@@ -675,7 +674,6 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),MINGW)
 	pathsep = ;
 	HAVE_ALLOCA_H = YesPlease
 	NO_PREAD = YesPlease
-	NO_WRITEV = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_CRYPTO_WITH_SSL = YesPlease
 	NO_LIBGEN_H = YesPlease
 	NO_POLL = YesPlease
diff --git a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
index d7a087e5842a91..81b4306e72046c 100644
--- a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ endif()
 #function checks
 set(function_checks
 	strcasestr memmem strlcpy strtoimax strtoumax strtoull
-	setenv mkdtemp poll pread memmem writev)
+	setenv mkdtemp poll pread memmem)
 
 #unsetenv,hstrerror are incompatible with windows build
 if(NOT WIN32)
@@ -421,10 +421,6 @@ if(NOT HAVE_MEMMEM)
 	list(APPEND compat_SOURCES compat/memmem.c)
 endif()
 
-if(NOT HAVE_WRITEV)
-	list(APPEND compat_SOURCES compat/writev.c)
-endif()
-
 if(NOT WIN32)
 	if(NOT HAVE_UNSETENV)
 		list(APPEND compat_SOURCES compat/unsetenv.c)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 8309942d184847..11488623bfd8f8 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1429,7 +1429,6 @@ checkfuncs = {
   'initgroups' : [],
   'strtoumax' : ['strtoumax.c', 'strtoimax.c'],
   'pread' : ['pread.c'],
-  'writev' : ['writev.c'],
 }
 
 if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
diff --git a/sideband.c b/sideband.c
index 1ed6614eaf1baf..ea7c25211ef7e1 100644
--- a/sideband.c
+++ b/sideband.c
@@ -264,7 +264,6 @@ void send_sideband(int fd, int band, const char *data, ssize_t sz, int packet_ma
 	const char *p = data;
 
 	while (sz) {
-		struct iovec iov[2];
 		unsigned n;
 		char hdr[5];
 
@@ -274,19 +273,12 @@ void send_sideband(int fd, int band, const char *data, ssize_t sz, int packet_ma
 		if (0 <= band) {
 			xsnprintf(hdr, sizeof(hdr), "%04x", n + 5);
 			hdr[4] = band;
-			iov[0].iov_base = hdr;
-			iov[0].iov_len = 5;
+			write_or_die(fd, hdr, 5);
 		} else {
 			xsnprintf(hdr, sizeof(hdr), "%04x", n + 4);
-			iov[0].iov_base = hdr;
-			iov[0].iov_len = 4;
+			write_or_die(fd, hdr, 4);
 		}
-
-		iov[1].iov_base = (void *) p;
-		iov[1].iov_len = n;
-
-		writev_or_die(fd, iov, ARRAY_SIZE(iov));
-
+		write_or_die(fd, p, n);
 		p += n;
 		sz -= n;
 	}
diff --git a/wrapper.c b/wrapper.c
index be8fa575e6f425..16f5a63fbb614a 100644
--- a/wrapper.c
+++ b/wrapper.c
@@ -323,47 +323,6 @@ ssize_t write_in_full(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
 	return total;
 }
 
-ssize_t writev_in_full(int fd, struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt)
-{
-	ssize_t total_written = 0;
-
-	while (iovcnt) {
-		ssize_t bytes_written = writev(fd, iov, iovcnt);
-		if (bytes_written < 0) {
-			if (errno == EINTR || errno == EAGAIN)
-				continue;
-			return -1;
-		}
-		if (!bytes_written) {
-			errno = ENOSPC;
-			return -1;
-		}
-
-		total_written += bytes_written;
-
-		/*
-		 * We first need to discard any iovec entities that have been
-		 * fully written.
-		 */
-		while (iovcnt && (size_t)bytes_written >= iov->iov_len) {
-			bytes_written -= iov->iov_len;
-			iov++;
-			iovcnt--;
-		}
-
-		/*
-		 * Finally, we need to adjust the last iovec in case we have
-		 * performed a partial write.
-		 */
-		if (iovcnt && bytes_written) {
-			iov->iov_base = (char *) iov->iov_base + bytes_written;
-			iov->iov_len -= bytes_written;
-		}
-	}
-
-	return total_written;
-}
-
 ssize_t pread_in_full(int fd, void *buf, size_t count, off_t offset)
 {
 	char *p = buf;
diff --git a/wrapper.h b/wrapper.h
index 27519b32d1782d..15ac3bab6e9748 100644
--- a/wrapper.h
+++ b/wrapper.h
@@ -47,15 +47,6 @@ ssize_t read_in_full(int fd, void *buf, size_t count);
 ssize_t write_in_full(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);
 ssize_t pread_in_full(int fd, void *buf, size_t count, off_t offset);
 
-/*
- * Try to write all iovecs. Returns -1 in case an error occurred with a proper
- * errno set, the number of bytes written otherwise.
- *
- * Note that the iovec will be modified as a result of this call to adjust for
- * partial writes!
- */
-ssize_t writev_in_full(int fd, struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt);
-
 static inline ssize_t write_str_in_full(int fd, const char *str)
 {
 	return write_in_full(fd, str, strlen(str));
diff --git a/write-or-die.c b/write-or-die.c
index 5f522fb7287382..01a9a51fa2fcd7 100644
--- a/write-or-die.c
+++ b/write-or-die.c
@@ -96,14 +96,6 @@ void write_or_die(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
 	}
 }
 
-void writev_or_die(int fd, struct iovec *iov, int iovlen)
-{
-	if (writev_in_full(fd, iov, iovlen) < 0) {
-		check_pipe(errno);
-		die_errno("writev error");
-	}
-}
-
 void fwrite_or_die(FILE *f, const void *buf, size_t count)
 {
 	if (fwrite(buf, 1, count, f) != count)
diff --git a/write-or-die.h b/write-or-die.h
index a045bdfaef1b2e..ff0408bd849fd8 100644
--- a/write-or-die.h
+++ b/write-or-die.h
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ void fprintf_or_die(FILE *, const char *fmt, ...);
 void fwrite_or_die(FILE *f, const void *buf, size_t count);
 void fflush_or_die(FILE *f);
 void write_or_die(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);
-void writev_or_die(int fd, struct iovec *iov, int iovlen);
 
 /*
  * These values are used to help identify parts of a repository to fsync.