diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index dbffc58186..61b536071d 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -41,8 +41,6 @@ RIOTMAKE            ?= $(RIOTBASE)/makefiles
 RIOTPKG             ?= $(RIOTBASE)/pkg
 RIOTTOOLS           ?= $(RIOTBASE)/dist/tools
 RIOTPROJECT         ?= $(shell git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)
-GITCACHE            ?= $(RIOTTOOLS)/git/git-cache
-GIT_CACHE_DIR       ?= $(HOME)/.gitcache
 BUILD_DIR           ?= $(RIOTBASE)/build
 APPDIR              ?= $(CURDIR)
 BINDIRBASE          ?= $(APPDIR)/bin
@@ -65,7 +63,6 @@ __DIRECTORY_VARIABLES := \
   BUILD_DIR \
   BINDIRBASE \
   BINDIR \
-  GITCACHE \
   PKGDIRBASE \
   DLCACHE_DIR \
   #
@@ -115,7 +112,6 @@ override RIOTMAKE               := $(abspath $(RIOTMAKE))
 override RIOTPKG                := $(abspath $(RIOTPKG))
 override RIOTTOOLS              := $(abspath $(RIOTTOOLS))
 override RIOTPROJECT            := $(abspath $(RIOTPROJECT))
-override GITCACHE               := $(abspath $(GITCACHE))
 override APPDIR                 := $(abspath $(APPDIR))
 override BUILD_DIR              := $(abspath $(BUILD_DIR))
 override BINDIRBASE             := $(abspath $(BINDIRBASE))
diff --git a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
index 78a6ca294f..61cd8b2bec 100644
--- a/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/vars.inc.mk
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ export WERROR                # Treat all compiler warnings as errors if set to 1
 export WPEDANTIC             # Issue all (extensive) compiler warnings demanded by strict C/C++
 # EEPROM_FILE                # (Native only!) file path where the content of the EEPROM is stored
 
-export GITCACHE              # path to git-cache executable
-export GIT_CACHE_DIR         # path to git-cache cache directory
+# GITCACHE                   # path to git-cache executable
+# GIT_CACHE_DIR              # path to git-cache cache directory, only used with packages
 # FLASHER                    # The command to call on "make flash".
 # PROG_DEV                   # The device to connect the FLASHER and DEBUGGER
 # FFLAGS                     # The parameters to supply to FLASHER.