# make sure we're always running at the top-level working directory
if ($cmd && $cmd =~ /(?:clone|init|multi-init)$/) {
$ENV{GIT_DIR} ||= ".git";
+ # catch the submodule case
+ if (-f $ENV{GIT_DIR}) {
+ open(my $fh, '<', $ENV{GIT_DIR}) or
+ die "failed to open $ENV{GIT_DIR}: $!\n";
+ $ENV{GIT_DIR} = $1 if <$fh> =~ /^gitdir: (.+)$/;
+ }
} else {
my ($git_dir, $cdup);
git_cmd_try {