/* Only loads from .gitmodules, no overlay with .git/config */
        gitmodules_config();
 
-       if (prefix) {
-               strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s%s", prefix, path);
+       if (prefix && get_super_prefix())
+               die("BUG: cannot have prefix and superprefix");
+       else if (prefix)
+               displaypath = xstrdup(relative_path(path, prefix, &sb));
+       else if (get_super_prefix()) {
+               strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s%s", get_super_prefix(), path);
                displaypath = strbuf_detach(&sb, NULL);
        } else
                displaypath = xstrdup(path);
                        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);
        int i;
 
        struct option module_init_options[] = {
-               OPT_STRING(0, "prefix", &prefix,
-                          N_("path"),
-                          N_("alternative anchor for relative paths")),
                OPT__QUIET(&quiet, N_("Suppress output for initializing a submodule")),
                OPT_END()
        };
                                   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)) {
        {"relative-path", resolve_relative_path, 0},
        {"resolve-relative-url", resolve_relative_url, 0},
        {"resolve-relative-url-test", resolve_relative_url_test, 0},
-       {"init", module_init, 0},
+       {"init", module_init, SUPPORT_SUPER_PREFIX},
        {"remote-branch", resolve_remote_submodule_branch, 0},
        {"absorb-git-dirs", absorb_git_dirs, SUPPORT_SUPER_PREFIX},
 };