diff --git a/alloc.c b/alloc.c
index 6c5c376a25a7f12c7ffa5745510c8ec84f0f53b0..2c8d1430758b973270b68e234387b36c29130b4b 100644
--- a/alloc.c
+++ b/alloc.c
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ void *alloc_blob_node_the_repository(void)
 }
 
 static struct alloc_state tree_state;
-void *alloc_tree_node(void)
+void *alloc_tree_node_the_repository(void)
 {
 	struct tree *t = alloc_node(&tree_state, sizeof(struct tree));
 	t->object.type = OBJ_TREE;
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 2258e61127531bdf0150ed32cd46768a7e9f4967..1717d07a2c5d18e4181cc5b4f5928ed69e94f089 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1766,7 +1766,8 @@ void encode_85(char *buf, const unsigned char *data, int bytes);
 /* alloc.c */
 #define alloc_blob_node(r) alloc_blob_node_##r()
 extern void *alloc_blob_node_the_repository(void);
-extern void *alloc_tree_node(void);
+#define alloc_tree_node(r) alloc_tree_node_##r()
+extern void *alloc_tree_node_the_repository(void);
 extern void *alloc_commit_node(void);
 extern void *alloc_tag_node(void);
 extern void *alloc_object_node(void);
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index 63730e3fb46e47872bddce714cba96c0af3a7d9c..58cf19b4fa8e77a25cf64b4316f429d59978c33e 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ struct tree *lookup_tree(const struct object_id *oid)
 	struct object *obj = lookup_object(oid->hash);
 	if (!obj)
 		return create_object(the_repository, oid->hash,
-				     alloc_tree_node());
+				     alloc_tree_node(the_repository));
 	return object_as_type(obj, OBJ_TREE, 0);
 }