diff --git a/misc-utils/blkid.8 b/misc-utils/blkid.8
index c8794a3b9..31805c611 100644
--- a/misc-utils/blkid.8
+++ b/misc-utils/blkid.8
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ blkid \- locate/print block device attributes
 .RB [ \-dghlv ]
 .RB [ \-c
 .IR file ]
-.RB [ \-w
-.IR file ]
 .RB [ \-o
 .IR format ]
 .in +6
@@ -238,17 +236,6 @@ Look up the device that uses this \fIuuid\fR.  For more details see the \fB-L\fR
 .B \-v
 Display version number and exit.
 .TP
-.BI \-w " writecachefile"
-Write the device cache to
-.I writecachefile
-instead of writing it to the default cache file
-.IR /etc/blkid.tab .
-If you don't want to save the cache at all, specify
-.IR /dev/null.
-If not specified, it will be the same file as that given with the
-.B \-c
-option.
-.TP
 .I device
 Display tokens from only the specified device.  It is possible to
 give multiple
diff --git a/misc-utils/blkid.c b/misc-utils/blkid.c
index 0ff89d66f..2976bca02 100644
--- a/misc-utils/blkid.c
+++ b/misc-utils/blkid.c
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ static void usage(int error)
 		"Usage:\n"
 		" %1$s -L <label> | -U <uuid>\n\n"
 		" %1$s [-c <file>] [-ghlLv] [-o <format>] [-s <tag>] \n"
-		"       [-t <token>] [-w <file>] [<dev> ...]\n\n"
+		"       [-t <token>] [<dev> ...]\n\n"
 		" %1$s -p [-s <tag>] [-O <offset>] [-S <size>] \n"
 		"       [-o <format>] <dev> ...\n\n"
 		" %1$s -i [-s <tag>] [-o <format>] <dev> ...\n\n"
@@ -80,7 +80,6 @@ static void usage(int error)
 		" -L <label>  convert LABEL to device name\n"
 		" -U <uuid>   convert UUID to device name\n"
 		" -v          print version and exit\n"
-		" -w <file>   write cache to different file (/dev/null = no write)\n"
 		" <dev>       specify device(s) to probe (default: all devices)\n\n"
 		"Low-level probing options:\n"
 		" -p          low-level superblocks probing (bypass cache)\n"
@@ -673,7 +672,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char *show[128] = { NULL, };
 	char *search_type = NULL, *search_value = NULL;
 	char *read = NULL;
-	char *write = NULL;
 	int fltr_usage = 0;
 	char **fltr_type = NULL;
 	int fltr_flag = BLKID_FLTR_ONLYIN;
@@ -695,8 +693,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 				read = NULL;
 			else
 				read = optarg;
-			if (!write)
-				write = read;
 			break;
 		case 'd':
 			raw_chars = 1;
@@ -803,10 +799,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			version = 1;
 			break;
 		case 'w':
-			if (optarg && !*optarg)
-				write = NULL;
-			else
-				write = optarg;
+			/* ignore - backward compatibility */
 			break;
 		case 'h':
 			err = 0;