diff --git a/builtin/show-ref.c b/builtin/show-ref.c
index 2dfcb5634c..013d241abc 100644
--- a/builtin/show-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/show-ref.c
@@ -22,10 +22,6 @@ static void show_one(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid)
 	const char *hex;
 	struct object_id peeled;
 
-	/* This changes the semantics slightly that even under quiet we
-	 * detect and return error if the repository is corrupt and
-	 * ref points at a nonexistent object.
-	 */
 	if (!has_sha1_file(oid->hash))
 		die("git show-ref: bad ref %s (%s)", refname,
 		    oid_to_hex(oid));