diff --git a/BUILDING.txt b/BUILDING.txt
index 94cbe5ea14..6e38ad374a 100644
--- a/BUILDING.txt
+++ b/BUILDING.txt
@@ -210,9 +210,13 @@ Requirements:
 * ProtocolBuffer 2.5.0
 * CMake 2.6 or newer
 * Windows SDK or Visual Studio 2010 Professional
-* Unix command-line tools from GnuWin32 or Cygwin: sh, mkdir, rm, cp, tar, gzip
 * zlib headers (if building native code bindings for zlib)
 * Internet connection for first build (to fetch all Maven and Hadoop dependencies)
+* Unix command-line tools from GnuWin32: sh, mkdir, rm, cp, tar, gzip. These
+  tools must be present on your PATH.
+
+Unix command-line tools are also included with the Windows Git package which
+can be downloaded from http://git-scm.com/download/win.
 
 If using Visual Studio, it must be Visual Studio 2010 Professional (not 2012).
 Do not use Visual Studio Express.  It does not support compiling for 64-bit,
@@ -221,6 +225,8 @@ download here:
 
 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8279
 
+Cygwin is neither required nor supported.
+
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Building:
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a81301bfc6..76a1a93e15 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -620,6 +620,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-11409. FileContext.getFileContext can stack overflow if default fs
     misconfigured (Gera Shegalov via jlowe)
 
+    HADOOP-11428. Remove obsolete reference to Cygwin in BUILDING.txt.
+    (Arpit Agarwal via wheat9)
+
 Release 2.6.0 - 2014-11-18
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES