diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index 2502531a3dfd0cee67f6d1d9fc1db1d69cf20e30..cdabfd29add5752caab24a1715427c0e4eba9a11 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -145,10 +145,12 @@ summary::
 
 foreach::
 	Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
-	The command has access to the variables $name, $path and $sha1:
+	The command has access to the variables $name, $path, $sha1 and
+	$toplevel:
 	$name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
 	$path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
-	superproject, and $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject.
+	superproject, $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject,
+	and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level of the superproject.
 	Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
 	ignored by this command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name
 	of each submodule before evaluating the command.
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 8175cb279d38a663fc0481e2b11f4b5ea60f8a32..8c562a72e6e95fce60b78c015623212b7fce1dab 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -271,6 +271,8 @@ cmd_foreach()
 		shift
 	done
 
+	toplevel=$(pwd)
+
 	module_list |
 	while read mode sha1 stage path
 	do
diff --git a/t/t7407-submodule-foreach.sh b/t/t7407-submodule-foreach.sh
index 2a527750ce4a81bc168b8ad3d8b09174f487b142..db9365b6454b18eb07f5c0798e13e18d696498c6 100755
--- a/t/t7407-submodule-foreach.sh
+++ b/t/t7407-submodule-foreach.sh
@@ -59,11 +59,13 @@ test_expect_success 'setup a submodule tree' '
 sub1sha1=$(cd super/sub1 && git rev-parse HEAD)
 sub3sha1=$(cd super/sub3 && git rev-parse HEAD)
 
+pwd=$(pwd)
+
 cat > expect <<EOF
 Entering 'sub1'
-foo1-sub1-$sub1sha1
+$pwd/clone-foo1-sub1-$sub1sha1
 Entering 'sub3'
-foo3-sub3-$sub3sha1
+$pwd/clone-foo3-sub3-$sub3sha1
 EOF
 
 test_expect_success 'test basic "submodule foreach" usage' '
@@ -71,7 +73,9 @@ test_expect_success 'test basic "submodule foreach" usage' '
 	(
 		cd clone &&
 		git submodule update --init -- sub1 sub3 &&
-		git submodule foreach "echo \$name-\$path-\$sha1" > ../actual
+		git submodule foreach "echo \$toplevel-\$name-\$path-\$sha1" > ../actual &&
+		git config foo.bar zar &&
+		git submodule foreach "git config --file \"\$toplevel/.git/config\" foo.bar"
 	) &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '