6 files changed, 6 insertions, 40 deletions
diff --git a/doc/backends.mdwn b/doc/backends.mdwn
index 4290da33b..03502eaa1 100644
--- a/doc/backends.mdwn
+++ b/doc/backends.mdwn
@@ -27,10 +27,6 @@ these backends.
   part of the key. Useful for archival tasks where the filename extension
   contains metadata that should be preserved.
 
-These backends store file contents in other key/value stores.
-
-* `URL` -- This backend downloads the file's content from an external URL.
-
 The `annex.backends` git-config setting can be used to list the backends
 git-annex should use. The first one listed will be used by default when
 new files are added.
diff --git a/doc/cheatsheet.mdwn b/doc/cheatsheet.mdwn
index 3f5960972..e88efc0ab 100644
--- a/doc/cheatsheet.mdwn
+++ b/doc/cheatsheet.mdwn
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ A suppliment to the [[walkthrough]].
 [[!inline feeds=no show=0 template=walkthrough pagenames="""
 	walkthrough/using_Amazon_S3
 	walkthrough/using_bup
-	walkthrough/using_the_URL_backend
 	walkthrough/using_the_SHA1_backend
 	walkthrough/migrating_data_to_a_new_backend
 	walkthrough/untrusted_repositories
diff --git a/doc/git-annex.mdwn b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
index a5ddf3172..92fd82454 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
@@ -277,13 +277,8 @@ Many git-annex commands will stage changes for later `git commit` by you.
 
 * fromkey file
 
-  This can be used to manually set up a file to link to a specified key
-  in the key-value backend. How you determine an existing key in the backend
-  varies. For the URL backend, the key is based on an URL to the content.
-
-  Example:
-
-	git annex fromkey --key=URL--http://www.archive.org/somefile somefile
+  This plumbing-level command can be used to manually set up a file
+  to link to a specified key in the key-value backend.
 
 * dropkey [key ...]
 
@@ -299,8 +294,8 @@ Many git-annex commands will stage changes for later `git commit` by you.
 
 * setkey file
 
-  This plumbing-level command sets the annexed data for a key to the content of
-  the specified file, and then removes the file.
+  This plumbing-level command sets the annexed data for a key to the
+  content of the specified file, and then removes the file.
 
   Example:
 
@@ -402,7 +397,6 @@ Here are all the supported configuration settings.
 
   Space-separated list of names of the key-value backends to use. 
   The first listed is used to store new files by default. 
-  (default: "WORM SHA1 URL")
 
 * `remote.<name>.annex-cost`
 
diff --git a/doc/install.mdwn b/doc/install.mdwn
index 1a83c2fd6..8a5e8d5ec 100644
--- a/doc/install.mdwn
+++ b/doc/install.mdwn
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ To build and use git-annex, you will need:
   * [dataenc](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/dataenc)
   * [TestPack](http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/testpack)
   * [QuickCheck 2](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/QuickCheck)
+  * [curl](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/curl)
   * [hS3](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/hS3) (optional, but recommended)
 * Shell commands
   * [git](http://git-scm.com/)
diff --git a/doc/walkthrough/using_the_SHA1_backend.mdwn b/doc/walkthrough/using_the_SHA1_backend.mdwn
index c04729e2c..70dc2ef75 100644
--- a/doc/walkthrough/using_the_SHA1_backend.mdwn
+++ b/doc/walkthrough/using_the_SHA1_backend.mdwn
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Another handy alternative to the default [[backend|backends]] is the
+A handy alternative to the default [[backend|backends]] is the
 SHA1 backend. This backend provides more git-style assurance that your data
 has not been damaged. And the checksum means that when you add the same
 content to the annex twice, only one copy need be stored in the backend.
diff --git a/doc/walkthrough/using_the_URL_backend.mdwn b/doc/walkthrough/using_the_URL_backend.mdwn
deleted file mode 100644
index 50da4dad8..000000000
--- a/doc/walkthrough/using_the_URL_backend.mdwn
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-git-annex has multiple key-value [[backends]]. So far you have been using
-the default, WORM (Write Once, Read Many) backend.
-
-Another handy backend is the URL backend, which can fetch file's content
-from remote URLs. Here's how to set up some files in your repository
-that use this backend:
-
-	# git annex fromkey --key=URL--http://www.archive.org/somefile somefile
-	fromkey somefile ok
-	# git commit -m "added a file from the Internet Archive"
-
-Now you if you ask git-annex to get that file, it will download it, 
-and cache it locally.
-
-	# git annex get somefile
-	get somefile (downloading)
-	#########################################################################100.0%
-	ok
-
-You can always drop files downloaded by the URL backend. It is assumed
-that the URL is stable; no local backup is kept.
-
-	# git annex drop somefile
-	drop somefile (ok)