diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index ea5b9669ad..92a5d235d9 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -93,19 +93,6 @@ static int git_fetch_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 	return git_default_config(k, v, cb);
 }
 
-static int gitmodules_fetch_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
-{
-	if (!strcmp(var, "submodule.fetchjobs")) {
-		max_children = parse_submodule_fetchjobs(var, value);
-		return 0;
-	} else if (!strcmp(var, "fetch.recursesubmodules")) {
-		recurse_submodules = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg(var, value);
-		return 0;
-	}
-
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static int parse_refmap_arg(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset)
 {
 	/*
@@ -1433,7 +1420,7 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++)
 		strbuf_addf(&default_rla, " %s", argv[i]);
 
-	config_from_gitmodules(gitmodules_fetch_config, NULL);
+	fetch_config_from_gitmodules(&max_children, &recurse_submodules);
 	git_config(git_fetch_config, NULL);
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
diff --git a/submodule-config.c b/submodule-config.c
index b431555db4..f44d6a7775 100644
--- a/submodule-config.c
+++ b/submodule-config.c
@@ -688,3 +688,31 @@ void config_from_gitmodules(config_fn_t fn, void *data)
 		free(file);
 	}
 }
+
+struct fetch_config {
+	int *max_children;
+	int *recurse_submodules;
+};
+
+static int gitmodules_fetch_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+{
+	struct fetch_config *config = cb;
+	if (!strcmp(var, "submodule.fetchjobs")) {
+		*(config->max_children) = parse_submodule_fetchjobs(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	} else if (!strcmp(var, "fetch.recursesubmodules")) {
+		*(config->recurse_submodules) = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+void fetch_config_from_gitmodules(int *max_children, int *recurse_submodules)
+{
+	struct fetch_config config = {
+		.max_children = max_children,
+		.recurse_submodules = recurse_submodules
+	};
+	config_from_gitmodules(gitmodules_fetch_config, &config);
+}
diff --git a/submodule-config.h b/submodule-config.h
index 5148801f48..cff297a75f 100644
--- a/submodule-config.h
+++ b/submodule-config.h
@@ -66,4 +66,6 @@ int check_submodule_name(const char *name);
  */
 extern void config_from_gitmodules(config_fn_t fn, void *data);
 
+extern void fetch_config_from_gitmodules(int *max_children, int *recurse_submodules);
+
 #endif /* SUBMODULE_CONFIG_H */