diff --git a/substrate/Cargo.lock b/substrate/Cargo.lock
index fd12cb5109..74678861fc 100644
--- a/substrate/Cargo.lock
+++ b/substrate/Cargo.lock
@@ -3161,7 +3161,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "frame-election-provider-support",
  "frame-support",
  "frame-system",
- "git2",
  "num-format",
  "pallet-staking",
 ]
@@ -3251,21 +3250,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "stable_deref_trait",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "git2"
-version = "0.16.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ccf7f68c2995f392c49fffb4f95ae2c873297830eb25c6bc4c114ce8f4562acc"
-dependencies = [
- "bitflags",
- "libc",
- "libgit2-sys",
- "log",
- "openssl-probe",
- "openssl-sys",
- "url",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "glob"
 version = "0.3.1"
@@ -4196,20 +4180,6 @@ version = "0.2.145"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "fc86cde3ff845662b8f4ef6cb50ea0e20c524eb3d29ae048287e06a1b3fa6a81"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "libgit2-sys"
-version = "0.14.2+1.5.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7f3d95f6b51075fe9810a7ae22c7095f12b98005ab364d8544797a825ce946a4"
-dependencies = [
- "cc",
- "libc",
- "libssh2-sys",
- "libz-sys",
- "openssl-sys",
- "pkg-config",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "libloading"
 version = "0.7.4"
@@ -4720,20 +4690,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "libsecp256k1-core",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "libssh2-sys"
-version = "0.2.23"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b094a36eb4b8b8c8a7b4b8ae43b2944502be3e59cd87687595cf6b0a71b3f4ca"
-dependencies = [
- "cc",
- "libc",
- "libz-sys",
- "openssl-sys",
- "pkg-config",
- "vcpkg",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "libz-sys"
 version = "1.1.9"
@@ -4741,7 +4697,6 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "56ee889ecc9568871456d42f603d6a0ce59ff328d291063a45cbdf0036baf6db"
 dependencies = [
  "cc",
- "libc",
  "pkg-config",
  "vcpkg",
 ]
@@ -5654,7 +5609,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap 4.3.2",
  "flate2",
  "fs_extra",
- "git2",
  "glob",
  "itertools",
  "tar",
@@ -5929,18 +5883,6 @@ version = "0.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "ff011a302c396a5197692431fc1948019154afc178baf7d8e37367442a4601cf"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "openssl-sys"
-version = "0.9.88"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "c2ce0f250f34a308dcfdbb351f511359857d4ed2134ba715a4eadd46e1ffd617"
-dependencies = [
- "cc",
- "libc",
- "pkg-config",
- "vcpkg",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "os_str_bytes"
 version = "6.5.0"
diff --git a/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/Cargo.toml b/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/Cargo.toml
index e93810876c..1fc35b63b1 100644
--- a/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/Cargo.toml
+++ b/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ targets = ["x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"]
 clap = { version = "4.2.5", features = ["derive"] }
 flate2 = "1.0"
 fs_extra = "1.3"
-git2 = "0.16"
 glob = "0.3"
 tar = "0.4"
 tempfile = "3"
diff --git a/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/src/main.rs b/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/src/main.rs
index c752522991..9681d73fa6 100644
--- a/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/src/main.rs
+++ b/substrate/scripts/ci/node-template-release/src/main.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ use std::{
 use clap::Parser;
 use flate2::{write::GzEncoder, Compression};
 use fs_extra::dir::{self, CopyOptions};
-use git2;
 use glob;
 use itertools::Itertools;
 use tar;
@@ -79,17 +78,20 @@ fn write_cargo_toml(path: &Path, cargo_toml: CargoToml) {
 
 /// Gets the latest commit id of the repository given by `path`.
 fn get_git_commit_id(path: &Path) -> String {
-	let repo = git2::Repository::discover(path)
-		.expect(&format!("Node template ({}) should be in a git repository.", path.display()));
+	let mut dir = path;
+	while !dir.join(".git").exists() {
+		dir = dir
+			.parent()
+			.expect(&format!("Node template ({}) should be in a git repository.", path.display()));
+	}
 
-	let commit_id = repo
-		.head()
-		.expect("Repository should have a head")
-		.peel_to_commit()
-		.expect("Head references a commit")
-		.id();
-
-	format!("{}", commit_id)
+	let git = dir.join(".git");
+	let head = git.join("HEAD");
+	let head_contents = fs::read_to_string(head).expect("Repository should have a HEAD");
+	let branch = head_contents.strip_prefix("ref: ").expect(".git/HEAD to start 'ref: '").trim();
+	let mut commit = fs::read_to_string(git.join(branch)).expect("Head references a commit");
+	commit.truncate(commit.trim_end().len());
+	commit
 }
 
 /// Rewrites git dependencies:
diff --git a/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/Cargo.toml b/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/Cargo.toml
index a24af6a270..e47c838440 100644
--- a/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/Cargo.toml
+++ b/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,5 +17,4 @@ pallet-staking = { version = "4.0.0-dev", path = "../../../frame/staking" }
 
 # third party
 chrono = { version = "0.4.19" }
-git2 = { version = "0.16.0", default-features = false }
 num-format = "0.4.3"
diff --git a/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/src/lib.rs b/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/src/lib.rs
index 509ae5530e..fda78692cb 100644
--- a/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/src/lib.rs
+++ b/substrate/utils/frame/generate-bags/src/lib.rs
@@ -89,8 +89,11 @@ fn existential_weight<T: pallet_staking::Config>(
 /// Just searches the git working directory root for files matching certain patterns; it's
 /// pretty naive.
 fn path_to_header_file() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-	let repo = git2::Repository::open_from_env().ok()?;
-	let workdir = repo.workdir()?;
+	let mut workdir: &Path = &std::env::current_dir().ok()?;
+	while !workdir.join(".git").exists() {
+		workdir = workdir.parent()?;
+	}
+
 	for file_name in &["HEADER-APACHE2", "HEADER-GPL3", "HEADER", "file_header.txt"] {
 		let path = workdir.join(file_name);
 		if path.exists() {