strbuf_addf(&remotesb, "remote.%s.url", remote);
                        free(remote);
 
-                       if (git_config_get_string(remotesb.buf, &remoteurl))
-                               /*
-                                * The repository is its own
-                                * authoritative upstream
-                                */
+                       if (git_config_get_string(remotesb.buf, &remoteurl)) {
+                               warning(_("could not lookup configuration '%s'. Assuming this repository is its own authoritative upstream."), remotesb.buf);
                                remoteurl = xgetcwd();
+                       }
                        relurl = relative_url(remoteurl, url, NULL);
                        strbuf_release(&remotesb);
                        free(remoteurl);
                                   module_clone_options);
 
        strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/modules/%s", get_git_dir(), name);
-       sm_gitdir = xstrdup(absolute_path(sb.buf));
+       sm_gitdir = absolute_pathdup(sb.buf);
        strbuf_reset(&sb);
 
        if (!is_absolute_path(path)) {