diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index e8dbf9e64a..edc0d17708 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -1531,8 +1531,8 @@ static int do_git_config_sequence(const struct config_options *opts,
 	char *user_config = expand_user_path("~/.gitconfig", 0);
 	char *repo_config;
 
-	if (opts->git_dir)
-		repo_config = mkpathdup("%s/config", opts->git_dir);
+	if (opts->commondir)
+		repo_config = mkpathdup("%s/config", opts->commondir);
 	else if (have_git_dir())
 		repo_config = git_pathdup("config");
 	else
@@ -1644,7 +1644,8 @@ void read_early_config(config_fn_t cb, void *data)
 
 	opts.respect_includes = 1;
 
-	if (have_git_dir())
+	if (have_git_dir()) {
+		opts.commondir = get_git_common_dir();
 		opts.git_dir = get_git_dir();
 	/*
 	 * When setup_git_directory() was not yet asked to discover the
@@ -1654,8 +1655,10 @@ void read_early_config(config_fn_t cb, void *data)
 	 * notably, the current working directory is still the same after the
 	 * call).
 	 */
-	else if (!discover_git_directory(&commondir, &gitdir))
+	} else if (!discover_git_directory(&commondir, &gitdir)) {
+		opts.commondir = commondir.buf;
 		opts.git_dir = gitdir.buf;
+	}
 
 	git_config_with_options(cb, data, NULL, &opts);
 
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index c70599bd5f..63b92784cd 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ enum config_origin_type {
 
 struct config_options {
 	unsigned int respect_includes : 1;
+	const char *commondir;
 	const char *git_dir;
 };