diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 6793178210..6bea8eeaac 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ static void commit_pager_choice(void) {
 
 static int handle_options(const char ***argv, int *argc, int *envchanged)
 {
-	int handled = 0;
+	const char **orig_argv = *argv;
 
 	while (*argc > 0) {
 		const char *cmd = (*argv)[0];
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ static int handle_options(const char ***argv, int *argc, int *envchanged)
 				*envchanged = 1;
 			(*argv)++;
 			(*argc)--;
-			handled++;
 		} else if (!prefixcmp(cmd, "--git-dir=")) {
 			setenv(GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT, cmd + 10, 1);
 			if (envchanged)
@@ -145,9 +144,8 @@ static int handle_options(const char ***argv, int *argc, int *envchanged)
 
 		(*argv)++;
 		(*argc)--;
-		handled++;
 	}
-	return handled;
+	return (*argv) - orig_argv;
 }
 
 static int handle_alias(int *argcp, const char ***argv)
diff --git a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
index 52c9ac9b65..de2a014d8f 100755
--- a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
+++ b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
@@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ test_expect_success 'git -c "key=value" support' '
 	test_must_fail git -c core.name=value config name
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'git -c works with aliases of builtins' '
+test_expect_success 'git -c works with aliases of builtins' '
 	git config alias.checkconfig "-c foo.check=bar config foo.check" &&
 	echo bar >expect &&
 	git checkconfig >actual &&