};
        int i;
 
+       if (http_follow_config != HTTP_FOLLOW_ALWAYS) {
+               warning("alternate disabled by http.followRedirects: %s", url);
+               return 0;
+       }
+
        for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(protocols); i++) {
                const char *end;
                if (skip_prefix(url, protocols[i], &end) &&
                                        okay = 1;
                                }
                        }
-                       /* skip "objects\n" at end */
                        if (okay) {
                                struct strbuf target = STRBUF_INIT;
                                strbuf_add(&target, base, serverlen);
-                               strbuf_add(&target, data + i, posn - i - 7);
-
-                               if (is_alternate_allowed(target.buf)) {
+                               strbuf_add(&target, data + i, posn - i);
+                               if (!strbuf_strip_suffix(&target, "objects")) {
+                                       warning("ignoring alternate that does"
+                                               " not end in 'objects': %s",
+                                               target.buf);
+                                       strbuf_release(&target);
+                               } else if (is_alternate_allowed(target.buf)) {
                                        warning("adding alternate object store: %s",
                                                target.buf);
                                        newalt = xmalloc(sizeof(*newalt));
                                        while (tail->next != NULL)
                                                tail = tail->next;
                                        tail->next = newalt;
+                               } else {
+                                       strbuf_release(&target);
                                }
                        }
                }
        struct alternates_request alt_req;
        struct walker_data *cdata = walker->data;
 
-       if (http_follow_config != HTTP_FOLLOW_ALWAYS)
-               return;
-
        /*
         * If another request has already started fetching alternates,
         * wait for them to arrive and return to processing this request's