diff --git a/buildutils/bundle.py b/buildutils/bundle.py
index 0a3848167..3dfd5ed06 100644
--- a/buildutils/bundle.py
+++ b/buildutils/bundle.py
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from urllib.request import urlopen
 
-from git import Repo
-from git.exc import InvalidGitRepositoryError, NoSuchPathError
-from gitdb.exc import BadName
-
 from .msg import fatal, info, warn
 
 pjoin = os.path.join
@@ -181,7 +177,10 @@ def handle_remove_readonly(func, path, exc):
         raise
 
 
-def fetch_libzmq_repo_zip(savedir, url):
+def fetch_libzmq_archive(savedir, url):
+    """fetch libzmq from archive zip"""
+    dest = pjoin(savedir, 'zeromq')
+
     fetch_path = urlparse(url)
     fetch_name = os.path.basename(fetch_path.path)
     dest = pjoin(savedir, 'zeromq')
@@ -189,41 +188,12 @@ def fetch_libzmq_repo_zip(savedir, url):
     # checks for a file with the name of the zip archive
     if os.path.exists(fname_file):
         info("already have extracted sources from repo archive %s" % fetch_name)
-        return
     else:
         if os.path.exists(dest):
             shutil.rmtree(dest, ignore_errors=False, onerror=handle_remove_readonly)
         fetch_and_extract(savedir, 'zeromq', url=url, fname=fetch_name, checksum=None)
-        open(fname_file, 'a')  # touch the file with the name of the zip archive
-
-
-def fetch_libzmq_repo(savedir, url, ref):
-    """fetch libzmq from repo"""
-    dest = pjoin(savedir, 'zeromq')
-
-    if url.endswith('.zip'):
-        fetch_libzmq_repo_zip(savedir, url)
-    else:
-        try:
-            repo = Repo(dest)
-        except (InvalidGitRepositoryError, NoSuchPathError):
-            info("invalid local repo, clone from %s" % url)
-            if os.path.exists(dest):
-                shutil.rmtree(dest, ignore_errors=False, onerror=handle_remove_readonly)
-            repo = Repo.clone_from(url, dest)
-
-        if ref:
-            try:
-                commit = repo.commit(ref)
-            except BadName:
-                warn("invalid ref %s" % ref)
-            else:
-                if repo.head.commit != commit:
-                    info("checking out %s" % ref)
-                    repo.head.reference = commit
-                    repo.head.reset(index=True, working_tree=True)
-                else:
-                    info("repo head is already %s" % ref)
+        with open(fname_file, 'a'):  # touch the file with the name of the zip archive
+            pass
 
     # get repo version
     zmq_hdr = pjoin(dest, 'include', 'zmq.h')
diff --git a/buildutils/config.py b/buildutils/config.py
index bbf63ad1c..a38eefe36 100644
--- a/buildutils/config.py
+++ b/buildutils/config.py
@@ -119,25 +119,12 @@ def config_from_prefix(prefix):
         settings['zmq_prefix'] = ''
         settings['libzmq_extension'] = True
         settings['no_libzmq_extension'] = False
-        settings['zmq_repo_url'] = None
-        settings['zmq_repo_ref'] = None
-    elif prefix_lower.startswith('git@'):
-        settings['zmq_prefix'] = ''
-        settings['libzmq_extension'] = True
-        settings['no_libzmq_extension'] = False
-
-        prefix_split = prefix.split('@', 2)
-        settings['zmq_repo_url'] = prefix_split[1]
-        if len(prefix_split) > 2:
-            settings['zmq_repo_ref'] = prefix_split[2]
-        else:
-            settings['zmq_repo_ref'] = None
+        settings['zmq_archive_url'] = None
     elif prefix_lower.startswith('https://') and prefix_lower.endswith('.zip'):
         settings['zmq_prefix'] = ''
         settings['libzmq_extension'] = True
         settings['no_libzmq_extension'] = False
-        settings['zmq_repo_url'] = prefix_lower
-        settings['zmq_repo_ref'] = None
+        settings['zmq_archive_url'] = prefix_lower
     else:
         settings['zmq_prefix'] = os.path.abspath(prefix)
         settings['libzmq_extension'] = False
@@ -177,8 +164,7 @@ def discover_settings(conf_base=None):
         'build_ext': {},
         'bdist_egg': {},
         'win_ver': None,
-        'zmq_repo_url': None,
-        'zmq_repo_ref': None,
+        'zmq_archive_url': None,
     }
     if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
         settings['have_sys_un_h'] = False
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4fb1d7383..a5f176e09 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ requires = [
     "setuptools_scm[toml]",
     "wheel",
     "packaging",
-    "GitPython",
     "cffi; implementation_name == 'pypy'",
     "cython>=0.29; implementation_name == 'cpython'",
     "cython>=0.29.35; implementation_name == 'cpython' and python_version >= '3.12'",
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d5253488a..86ea3054d 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@
     discover_settings,
     fatal,
     fetch_libzmq,
+    fetch_libzmq_archive,
     fetch_libzmq_dll,
-    fetch_libzmq_repo,
     info,
     line,
     localpath,
@@ -538,9 +538,9 @@ def bundle_libzmq_extension(self):
         if not os.path.exists(bundledir):
             os.makedirs(bundledir)
 
-        if self.config['zmq_repo_url']:
-            repo_version = fetch_libzmq_repo(
-                bundledir, self.config['zmq_repo_url'], self.config['zmq_repo_ref']
+        if self.config['zmq_archive_url']:
+            repo_version = fetch_libzmq_archive(
+                bundledir, self.config['zmq_archive_url']
             )
             if repo_version and repo_version != bundled_version:
                 bundled_version = repo_version