diff --git a/pathspec.c b/pathspec.c
index 729df9f385..c32503d079 100644
--- a/pathspec.c
+++ b/pathspec.c
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ void parse_pathspec(struct pathspec *pathspec,
 {
 	struct pathspec_item *item;
 	const char *entry = argv ? *argv : NULL;
-	int i, n, prefixlen, warn_empty_string, nr_exclude = 0;
+	int i, n, prefixlen, nr_exclude = 0;
 
 	memset(pathspec, 0, sizeof(*pathspec));
 
@@ -402,13 +402,10 @@ void parse_pathspec(struct pathspec *pathspec,
 	}
 
 	n = 0;
-	warn_empty_string = 1;
 	while (argv[n]) {
-		if (*argv[n] == '\0' && warn_empty_string) {
-			warning(_("empty strings as pathspecs will be made invalid in upcoming releases. "
-				  "please use . instead if you meant to match all paths"));
-			warn_empty_string = 0;
-		}
+		if (*argv[n] == '\0')
+			die("empty string is not a valid pathspec. "
+				  "please use . instead if you meant to match all paths");
 		n++;
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t3600-rm.sh b/t/t3600-rm.sh
index 14f0edca2b..44624605e3 100755
--- a/t/t3600-rm.sh
+++ b/t/t3600-rm.sh
@@ -881,9 +881,8 @@ test_expect_success 'rm files with two different errors' '
 	test_i18ncmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'rm empty string should invoke warning' '
-	git rm -rf "" 2>output &&
-	test_i18ngrep "warning: empty strings" output
+test_expect_success 'rm empty string should fail' '
+	test_must_fail git rm -rf ""
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t3700-add.sh b/t/t3700-add.sh
index 05379d0a4a..6357d6e74e 100755
--- a/t/t3700-add.sh
+++ b/t/t3700-add.sh
@@ -332,9 +332,8 @@ test_expect_success 'git add --dry-run --ignore-missing of non-existing file out
 	test_i18ncmp expect.err actual.err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'git add empty string should invoke warning' '
-	git add "" 2>output &&
-	test_i18ngrep "warning: empty strings" output
+test_expect_success 'git add empty string should fail' '
+	test_must_fail git add ""
 '
 
 test_done