diff --git a/src/repository/opamDownload.ml b/src/repository/opamDownload.ml
index e18a22a5220..a2aafaca0ea 100644
--- a/src/repository/opamDownload.ml
+++ b/src/repository/opamDownload.ml
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ let user_agent =
   CString (Printf.sprintf "opam/%s" (OpamVersion.(to_string current)))
 
 let curl_args = [
+  (* --fail is as old as cURL; though the assumption that it leads to exit
+       code 22 when there's an error is probably 5.3 21-Dec-1998 (prior to
+       that it led to exit code 21) *)
+  (CString "--fail", None); (* Mitigation for curl/curl#13845 *)
+  (* (CString "--write-out", None); *)
+  (* (CString "%%{http_code}\\n", None); (* 6.5 13-Mar-2000 *) *)
   CString "--retry", None; CIdent "retry", None; (* 7.12.3 20-Dec-2004 *)
   CString "--retry-delay", None; CString "2", None; (* 7.12.3 20-Dec-2004 *)
   CString "--compressed",
@@ -32,17 +38,6 @@ let curl_args = [
   CIdent "url", None;
 ]
 
-let curl_args ~with_mitigation =
-  if with_mitigation then
-    (* --fail is as old as cURL; though the assumption that it leads to exit
-       code 22 when there's an error is probably 5.3 21-Dec-1998 (prior to
-       that it led to exit code 21) *)
-    (CString "--fail", None) :: curl_args
-  else
-    (CString "--write-out", None) ::
-    (CString "%%{http_code}\\n", None) :: (* 6.5 13-Mar-2000 *)
-    curl_args
-
 let wget_args = [
   CString "-t", None; CIdent "retry", None;
   CString "-O", None; CIdent "out", None;
@@ -65,16 +60,14 @@ let ftp_args = [
   CIdent "url", None;
 ]
 
-let download_args ~url ~out ~retry ?(with_curl_mitigation=false)
-                  ?checksum ~compress () =
+let download_args ~url ~out ~retry ?checksum ~compress () =
   let cmd, _ = Lazy.force OpamRepositoryConfig.(!r.download_tool) in
   let cmd =
     match cmd with
     | [(CIdent "wget"), _] -> cmd @ wget_args
     | [(CIdent "fetch"), _] -> cmd @ fetch_args
     | [(CIdent "ftp"), _] -> cmd @ ftp_args
-      (* Assume curl if the command is a single arg *)
-    | [_] -> cmd @ curl_args ~with_mitigation:with_curl_mitigation
+    | [_] -> cmd @ curl_args (* Assume curl if the command is a single arg *)
     | _ -> cmd
   in
   OpamFilter.single_command (fun v ->
@@ -100,14 +93,13 @@ let download_args ~url ~out ~retry ?(with_curl_mitigation=false)
       | _ -> None)
     cmd
 
-let download_command ~with_curl_mitigation ~compress ?checksum ~url ~dst c =
+let download_command ~compress ?checksum ~url ~dst c =
   let cmd, args =
     match
       download_args
         ~url
         ~out:dst
         ~retry:OpamRepositoryConfig.(!r.retries)
-        ~with_curl_mitigation
         ?checksum
         ~compress
         ()
@@ -136,19 +128,19 @@ let tool_return redownload_command url ret =
            never be encountered using the curl binary, so we assume that it's
            a manifestation of curl/curl#13845 (see also #6120). *)
         log "Attempting to mitigate curl/curl#13845";
-        redownload_command ~with_curl_mitigation:true @@ function ret ->
+        redownload_command @@ function ret ->
           if OpamProcess.is_failure ret then
             if ret.r_code = 22 then
               (* If this broken version of curl persists for some time, it is
                  relatively straightforward to parse the http response code from
                  the message, as it hasn't changed. *)
               fail (Some "cURL failed owing to a server-side issue",
-                      Printf.sprintf "cURL failed with server-side error: %s"
-                        (OpamProcess.result_summary ret))
+                    Printf.sprintf "cURL failed with server-side error: %s"
+                      (OpamProcess.result_summary ret))
             else
               fail (Some "cURL failed",
-                      Printf.sprintf "cURL failed: %s"
-                        (OpamProcess.result_summary ret))
+                    Printf.sprintf "cURL failed: %s"
+                      (OpamProcess.result_summary ret))
           else Done ()
       end else
         fail (Some "Curl failed", Printf.sprintf "Curl failed: %s"
@@ -170,7 +162,7 @@ let tool_return redownload_command url ret =
 
 let download_command ~compress ?checksum ~url ~dst () =
   let download_command = download_command ~compress ?checksum ~url ~dst in
-  download_command ~with_curl_mitigation:false @@ tool_return download_command url
+  download_command (tool_return download_command url)
 
 let really_download
     ?(quiet=false) ~overwrite ?(compress=false) ?checksum ?(validate=true)