#include "commit.h"
 #include "revision.h"
 #include "builtin.h"
+#include "submodule.h"
 
 static const char diff_cache_usage[] =
 "git diff-index [-m] [--cached] "
        int result;
 
        init_revisions(&rev, prefix);
+       gitmodules_config();
        git_config(git_diff_basic_config, NULL); /* no "diff" UI options */
        rev.abbrev = 0;
 
        if (rev.pending.nr != 1 ||
            rev.max_count != -1 || rev.min_age != -1 || rev.max_age != -1)
                usage(diff_cache_usage);
-       if (!cached)
+       if (!cached) {
                setup_work_tree();
-       if (read_cache() < 0) {
+               if (read_cache_preload(rev.diffopt.pathspec.raw) < 0) {
+                       perror("read_cache_preload");
+                       return -1;
+               }
+       } else if (read_cache() < 0) {
                perror("read_cache");
                return -1;
        }