diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 4140a3f5c8b..8fc350fc124 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -133,10 +133,13 @@ Issues of note:
 	  you are using libcurl older than 7.34.0.  Otherwise you can use
 	  NO_OPENSSL without losing git-imap-send.
 
-	  By default, git uses OpenSSL for SHA1 but it will use its own
-	  library (inspired by Mozilla's) with either NO_OPENSSL or
-	  BLK_SHA1.  Also included is a version optimized for PowerPC
-	  (PPC_SHA1).
+	- Git uses an altered version of SHA-1 by default which
+          detects the SHAttered attack via the sha1collisiondetection
+          counter-cryptanalysis library. For SHA-256 we'll select a
+          working implementation (and ship a fallback
+          implementation). See the "SHA-1 and SHA-256 defines" section
+          in the Makefile for details. You should not need to tweak
+          those settings.
 
 	- "libcurl" library is used for fetching and pushing
 	  repositories over http:// or https://, as well as by
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 246f6729022..12bb9edd70a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -468,33 +468,65 @@ include shared.mak
 #
 # == SHA-1 and SHA-256 defines ==
 #
-# Define BLK_SHA1 environment variable to make use of the bundled
-# optimized C SHA1 routine.
+# === SHA-1 backend ===
 #
-# Define PPC_SHA1 environment variable when running make to make use of
-# a bundled SHA1 routine optimized for PowerPC.
+# Due to the SHAttered (https://shattered.io) attack vector on SHA-1
+# Git uses the sha1collisiondetection counter-cryptanalysis library
+# for SHA-1 hashing.
+#
+# You're strongly advised not to override this for any usage of Git
+# where you don't 100% trust the repository content.
+#
+# ==== Options common to all SHA-1 implementations ====
+#
+# Define SHA1_MAX_BLOCK_SIZE to limit the amount of data that will be hashed
+# in one call to the platform's SHA1_Update(). e.g. APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
+# wants 'SHA1_MAX_BLOCK_SIZE=1024L*1024L*1024L' defined.
 #
-# Define DC_SHA1 to unconditionally enable the collision-detecting sha1
-# algorithm. This is slower, but may detect attempted collision attacks.
-# Takes priority over other *_SHA1 knobs.
+# ===== Options for the default sha1collisiondetection implementations =====
 #
-# Define DC_SHA1_EXTERNAL in addition to DC_SHA1 if you want to build / link
+# Define DC_SHA1_EXTERNAL if you want to build / link
 # git with the external SHA1 collision-detect library.
 # Without this option, i.e. the default behavior is to build git with its
 # own built-in code (or submodule).
 #
-# Define DC_SHA1_SUBMODULE in addition to DC_SHA1 to use the
+# Define DC_SHA1_SUBMODULE to use the
 # sha1collisiondetection shipped as a submodule instead of the
 # non-submodule copy in sha1dc/. This is an experimental option used
 # by the git project to migrate to using sha1collisiondetection as a
 # submodule.
 #
+# ==== Alternate implementations ====
+#
+# Git still ships with alternate SHA-1 implementations. These are
+# faster than the default, which is useful when hashing speed
+# is imperative, consider using them if you're confident that you
+# won't need to worry about SHA-1 collision attacks.
+#
+# To use them you must define NO_DC_SHA1 and one of the *_SHA1
+# variables below:
+#
+# Define BLK_SHA1 environment variable to make use of the bundled
+# optimized C SHA1 routine.
+#
 # Define OPENSSL_SHA1 environment variable when running make to link
 # with the SHA1 routine from openssl library.
 #
-# Define SHA1_MAX_BLOCK_SIZE to limit the amount of data that will be hashed
-# in one call to the platform's SHA1_Update(). e.g. APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
-# wants 'SHA1_MAX_BLOCK_SIZE=1024L*1024L*1024L' defined.
+# Define PPC_SHA1 environment variable when running make to make use of
+# a bundled SHA1 routine optimized for PowerPC.
+#
+# Define APPLE_SHA1 to use Apple's CommonCrypto SHA-1 routines on
+# Darwin/Mac OS X.
+#
+# The APPLE_SHA1 option is unrelated to the NO_APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
+# flag, which determines if Apple's crypto libraries are used for
+# things that aren't SHA-1.
+#
+# === SHA-256 backend ===
+#
+# Unlike SHA-1 the SHA-256 algorithm does not suffer from any known
+# vulnerabilities, so any implementation will do. BLK_SHA256 is
+# currently the default implementation (but that may change).
 #
 # Define BLK_SHA256 to use the built-in SHA-256 routines.
 #
@@ -1434,7 +1466,6 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Darwin)
 	endif
 	ifndef NO_APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
 		NO_OPENSSL = YesPlease
-		APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO = YesPlease
 		COMPAT_CFLAGS += -DAPPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
 	endif
 	NO_REGEX = YesPlease
@@ -1796,30 +1827,15 @@ ifdef NO_POSIX_GOODIES
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DNO_POSIX_GOODIES
 endif
 
-ifdef APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
-	# Apple CommonCrypto requires chunking
-	SHA1_MAX_BLOCK_SIZE = 1024L*1024L*1024L
+ifdef DC_SHA1
+$(error the DC_SHA1 flag is no longer used, and has become the default. Adjust your build scripts accordingly)
 endif
-
-ifdef OPENSSL_SHA1
-	EXTLIBS += $(LIB_4_CRYPTO)
-	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_OPENSSL
-else
-ifdef BLK_SHA1
-	LIB_OBJS += block-sha1/sha1.o
-	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_BLK
-else
-ifdef PPC_SHA1
-	LIB_OBJS += ppc/sha1.o ppc/sha1ppc.o
-	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_PPC
-else
-ifdef APPLE_COMMON_CRYPTO
-	COMPAT_CFLAGS += -DCOMMON_DIGEST_FOR_OPENSSL
-	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_APPLE
-else
-	DC_SHA1 := YesPlease
-	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_DC
+ifndef NO_DC_SHA1
+	ifneq ($(OPENSSL_SHA1)$(BLK_SHA1)$(PPC_SHA1)$(APPLE_SHA1),)
+$(error no other *_SHA1 option can be defined unless NO_DC_SHA1 is defined)
+	endif
 	LIB_OBJS += sha1dc_git.o
+
 ifdef DC_SHA1_EXTERNAL
 	ifdef DC_SHA1_SUBMODULE
 		ifneq ($(DC_SHA1_SUBMODULE),auto)
@@ -1843,6 +1859,26 @@ endif
 		-DSHA1DC_CUSTOM_INCLUDE_SHA1_C="\"cache.h\"" \
 		-DSHA1DC_CUSTOM_INCLUDE_UBC_CHECK_C="\"git-compat-util.h\""
 endif
+else # !NO_DC_SHA1
+BASIC_CFLAGS += -DNO_SHA1_DC
+ifdef OPENSSL_SHA1
+	EXTLIBS += $(LIB_4_CRYPTO)
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_OPENSSL
+else
+ifdef BLK_SHA1
+	LIB_OBJS += block-sha1/sha1.o
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_BLK
+else
+ifdef PPC_SHA1
+	LIB_OBJS += ppc/sha1.o ppc/sha1ppc.o
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_PPC
+else
+ifdef APPLE_SHA1
+	COMPAT_CFLAGS += -DCOMMON_DIGEST_FOR_OPENSSL
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DSHA1_APPLE
+else
+$(error when defining NO_DC_SHA1 another valid *_SHA1 variable must be defined!)
+endif
 endif
 endif
 endif
@@ -2884,7 +2920,7 @@ GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS: FORCE
 	@echo NO_PYTHON=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(NO_PYTHON)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo NO_UNIX_SOCKETS=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(NO_UNIX_SOCKETS)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo PAGER_ENV=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(PAGER_ENV)))'\' >>$@+
-	@echo DC_SHA1=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(DC_SHA1)))'\' >>$@+
+	@echo NO_DC_SHA1=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(NO_DC_SHA1)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo SANITIZE_LEAK=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(SANITIZE_LEAK)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo X=\'$(X)\' >>$@+
 ifdef FSMONITOR_DAEMON_BACKEND
diff --git a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
index 185f56f414f..10616188e4e 100644
--- a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -996,7 +996,6 @@ set(NO_PERL )
 set(NO_PTHREADS )
 set(NO_PYTHON )
 set(PAGER_ENV "LESS=FRX LV=-c")
-set(DC_SHA1 YesPlease)
 set(RUNTIME_PREFIX true)
 set(NO_GETTEXT )
 
@@ -1032,7 +1031,7 @@ file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "NO_PERL='${NO_PERL}'\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "NO_PTHREADS='${NO_PTHREADS}'\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "NO_UNIX_SOCKETS='${NO_UNIX_SOCKETS}'\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "PAGER_ENV='${PAGER_ENV}'\n")
-file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "DC_SHA1='${DC_SHA1}'\n")
+file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "NO_DC_SHA1=''\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "X='${EXE_EXTENSION}'\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "NO_GETTEXT='${NO_GETTEXT}'\n")
 file(APPEND ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS "RUNTIME_PREFIX='${RUNTIME_PREFIX}'\n")
diff --git a/hash.h b/hash.h
index 5d40368f18a..20012167ce4 100644
--- a/hash.h
+++ b/hash.h
@@ -4,16 +4,18 @@
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
 #include "repository.h"
 
-#if defined(SHA1_PPC)
+#if !defined(NO_SHA1_DC)
+#include "sha1dc_git.h"
+#elif defined(SHA1_PPC)
 #include "ppc/sha1.h"
 #elif defined(SHA1_APPLE)
 #include <CommonCrypto/CommonDigest.h>
 #elif defined(SHA1_OPENSSL)
 #include <openssl/sha.h>
-#elif defined(SHA1_DC)
-#include "sha1dc_git.h"
-#else /* SHA1_BLK */
+#elif defined(SHA1_BLK)
 #include "block-sha1/sha1.h"
+#else
+#error "need a SHA1_* implementation defined"
 #endif
 
 #if defined(SHA256_GCRYPT)
diff --git a/t/t0013-sha1dc.sh b/t/t0013-sha1dc.sh
index 9ad76080aa4..539270a2665 100755
--- a/t/t0013-sha1dc.sh
+++ b/t/t0013-sha1dc.sh
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true
 . ./test-lib.sh
 TEST_DATA="$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0013"
 
-if test -z "$DC_SHA1"
+if test -n "$NO_DC_SHA1"
 then
-	skip_all='skipping sha1 collision tests, DC_SHA1 not set'
+	skip_all='skipping sha1 collision tests, NO_DC_SHA1 set'
 	test_done
 fi
 
