diff --git a/submodule-config.c b/submodule-config.c
index 7c73fa108b..37c3be377b 100644
--- a/submodule-config.c
+++ b/submodule-config.c
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE
 #define DISABLE_SIGN_COMPARE_WARNINGS
 
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
@@ -803,9 +802,6 @@ static void config_from_gitmodules(config_fn_t fn, struct repository *repo, void
 		} else if (repo_get_oid(repo, GITMODULES_INDEX, &oid) >= 0 ||
 			   repo_get_oid(repo, GITMODULES_HEAD, &oid) >= 0) {
 			config_source.blob = oidstr = xstrdup(oid_to_hex(&oid));
-			if (repo != the_repository)
-				odb_add_submodule_source_by_path(the_repository->objects,
-								 repo->objects->sources->path);
 		} else {
 			goto out;
 		}