diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index b42e2384348523749f5cea8c85f7601ef4a92199..8b8c8e849667548970ccc8225ed2e77d065e2b07 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -326,13 +326,22 @@ const char *get_commit_output_encoding(void)
 }
 
 static int the_shared_repository = PERM_UMASK;
+static int need_shared_repository_from_config = 1;
 
 void set_shared_repository(int value)
 {
 	the_shared_repository = value;
+	need_shared_repository_from_config = 0;
 }
 
 int get_shared_repository(void)
 {
+	if (need_shared_repository_from_config) {
+		const char *var = "core.sharedrepository";
+		const char *value;
+		if (!git_config_get_value(var, &value))
+			the_shared_repository = git_config_perm(var, value);
+		need_shared_repository_from_config = 0;
+	}
 	return the_shared_repository;
 }
diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index ac777c5f10d79527470b52335d6fc48a7ee5c89e..a02932b9698945e04d7a36582f7b5c4bd9fc9268 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -376,8 +376,6 @@ static int check_repo_format(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 
 	if (strcmp(var, "core.repositoryformatversion") == 0)
 		repository_format_version = git_config_int(var, value);
-	else if (strcmp(var, "core.sharedrepository") == 0)
-		set_shared_repository(git_config_perm(var, value));
 	else if (skip_prefix(var, "extensions.", &ext)) {
 		/*
 		 * record any known extensions here; otherwise,