if (read_cache() < 0)
                die(_("index file corrupt"));
 
+       /*
+        * Drop trailing directory separators from directories so we'll find
+        * submodules in the index.
+        */
+       for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+               size_t pathlen = strlen(argv[i]);
+               if (pathlen && is_dir_sep(argv[i][pathlen - 1]) &&
+                   is_directory(argv[i])) {
+                       do {
+                               pathlen--;
+                       } while (pathlen && is_dir_sep(argv[i][pathlen - 1]));
+                       argv[i] = xmemdupz(argv[i], pathlen);
+               }
+       }
+
        pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv);
        refresh_index(&the_index, REFRESH_QUIET, pathspec, NULL, NULL);