diff --git a/Modules/ExternalProject.cmake b/Modules/ExternalProject.cmake
index f30f8a594..e97ecfcbb 100644
--- a/Modules/ExternalProject.cmake
+++ b/Modules/ExternalProject.cmake
@@ -935,7 +935,8 @@ message(STATUS \"downloading... done\")
 endfunction()
 
 
-function(_ep_write_verifyfile_script script_filename LOCAL hash retries download_script)
+function(_ep_write_verifyfile_script script_filename LOCAL hash download_script)
+  set(retries 0)
   if("${hash}" MATCHES "${_ep_hash_regex}")
     set(algo "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
     string(TOLOWER "${CMAKE_MATCH_2}" expect_value)
@@ -1898,7 +1899,6 @@ function(_ep_add_download_command name)
     set(repository "external project URL")
     set(module "${url}")
     set(tag "${hash}")
-    set(retries 0)
     set(download_script "")
     configure_file(
       "${CMAKE_ROOT}/Modules/RepositoryInfo.txt.in"
@@ -1937,7 +1937,6 @@ function(_ep_add_download_command name)
         _ep_write_downloadfile_script("${download_script}" "${url}" "${file}" "${timeout}" "${no_progress}" "${hash}" "${tls_verify}" "${tls_cainfo}")
         set(cmd ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -P "${download_script}"
           COMMAND)
-        set(retries 3)
         if (no_extract)
           set(steps "download and verify")
         else ()
@@ -1953,7 +1952,7 @@ function(_ep_add_download_command name)
         endif ()
         set(comment "Performing download step (${steps}) for '${name}'")
       endif()
-      _ep_write_verifyfile_script("${stamp_dir}/verify-${name}.cmake" "${file}" "${hash}" "${retries}" "${download_script}")
+      _ep_write_verifyfile_script("${stamp_dir}/verify-${name}.cmake" "${file}" "${hash}" "${download_script}")
       list(APPEND cmd ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -P ${stamp_dir}/verify-${name}.cmake
         COMMAND)
       if (NOT no_extract)