diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index b0e873e9f5..57587ede56 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ enum push_default_type push_default = PUSH_DEFAULT_UNSPECIFIED;
 #endif
 enum object_creation_mode object_creation_mode = OBJECT_CREATION_MODE;
 int grafts_keep_true_parents;
-int sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns;
 unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
 
 #ifndef PROTECT_HFS_DEFAULT
@@ -550,8 +549,10 @@ int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 
 static int git_default_sparse_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 {
+	struct repo_config_values *cfg = repo_config_values(the_repository);
+
 	if (!strcmp(var, "sparse.expectfilesoutsideofpatterns")) {
-		sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		cfg->sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -723,4 +724,5 @@ void repo_config_values_init(struct repo_config_values *cfg)
 	cfg->pack_compression_level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
 	cfg->precomposed_unicode = -1; /* see probe_utf8_pathname_composition() */
 	cfg->core_sparse_checkout_cone = 0;
+	cfg->sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns = 0;
 }
diff --git a/environment.h b/environment.h
index befad9a388..609cdaa07f 100644
--- a/environment.h
+++ b/environment.h
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ struct repo_config_values {
 	int precomposed_unicode;
 	int core_sparse_checkout_cone;
 
+	/* section "sparse" config values */
+	int sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns;
+
 	/* section "branch" config values */
 	enum branch_track branch_track;
 };
@@ -179,8 +182,6 @@ extern unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
 extern int protect_hfs;
 extern int protect_ntfs;
 
-extern int sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns;
-
 enum rebase_setup_type {
 	AUTOREBASE_NEVER = 0,
 	AUTOREBASE_LOCAL,
diff --git a/sparse-index.c b/sparse-index.c
index 53cb8d64fc..1ed769b78d 100644
--- a/sparse-index.c
+++ b/sparse-index.c
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ void clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files(struct index_state *istate)
 	struct repo_config_values *cfg = repo_config_values(the_repository);
 
 	if (!cfg->apply_sparse_checkout ||
-	    sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns)
+	    cfg->sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns)
 		return;
 
 	if (clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files_sparse(istate)) {