diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ec73acfa9a9195591d5dea09d6f91a47b7cde641..0496c5057a756be9ee2cb115574bb7ca7bd91814 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -18,17 +18,26 @@ git-submodule-update:
 
 .PHONY: git-submodule-update
 
-ifeq (0,$(MAKELEVEL))
-  git_module_status := $(shell \
-    cd '$(SRC_PATH)' && \
-    ./scripts/git-submodule.sh status $(GIT_SUBMODULES); \
-    echo $$?; \
-  )
+git_module_status := $(shell \
+  cd '$(SRC_PATH)' && \
+  GIT="$(GIT)" ./scripts/git-submodule.sh status $(GIT_SUBMODULES); \
+  echo $$?; \
+)
 
 ifeq (1,$(git_module_status))
+ifeq (no,$(GIT_UPDATE))
 git-submodule-update:
 	$(call quiet-command, \
-          (cd $(SRC_PATH) && ./scripts/git-submodule.sh update $(GIT_SUBMODULES)), \
+            echo && \
+            echo "GIT submodule checkout is out of date. Please run" && \
+            echo "  scripts/git-submodule.sh update $(GIT_SUBMODULES)" && \
+            echo "from the source directory checkout $(SRC_PATH)" && \
+            echo && \
+            exit 1)
+else
+git-submodule-update:
+	$(call quiet-command, \
+          (cd $(SRC_PATH) && GIT="$(GIT)" ./scripts/git-submodule.sh update $(GIT_SUBMODULES)), \
           "GIT","$(GIT_SUBMODULES)")
 endif
 endif
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e31d6a7fee88900559fb2ccd1a94a784993d047d..a6055c0710a7b2e13e53a2c60b2fbb15ea230f09 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -267,10 +267,13 @@ stack_protector=""
 
 if test -e "$source_path/.git"
 then
+    git_update=yes
     git_submodules="ui/keycodemapdb"
 else
+    git_update=no
     git_submodules=""
 fi
+git="git"
 
 # Don't accept a target_list environment variable.
 unset target_list
@@ -1303,6 +1306,12 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --enable-capstone=system) capstone="system"
   ;;
+  --with-git=*) git="$optarg"
+  ;;
+  --enable-git-update) git_update=yes
+  ;;
+  --disable-git-update) git_update=no
+  ;;
   *)
       echo "ERROR: unknown option $opt"
       echo "Try '$0 --help' for more information"
@@ -5413,6 +5422,7 @@ echo "local state directory   queried at runtime"
 echo "Windows SDK       $win_sdk"
 fi
 echo "Source path       $source_path"
+echo "GIT binary        $git"
 echo "GIT submodules    $git_submodules"
 echo "C compiler        $cc"
 echo "Host C compiler   $host_cc"
@@ -5604,7 +5614,9 @@ echo "extra_cxxflags=$EXTRA_CXXFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "extra_ldflags=$EXTRA_LDFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "qemu_localedir=$qemu_localedir" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "libs_softmmu=$libs_softmmu" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "GIT=$git" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "GIT_SUBMODULES=$git_submodules" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "GIT_UPDATE=$git_update" >> $config_host_mak
 
 echo "ARCH=$ARCH" >> $config_host_mak
 
diff --git a/scripts/git-submodule.sh b/scripts/git-submodule.sh
index 08932a35f0b2f47df6535a735e61578e060ea1db..030617b4ac0cdf1b892981aa68b86213d997c158 100755
--- a/scripts/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/scripts/git-submodule.sh
@@ -3,21 +3,49 @@
 # This code is licensed under the GPL version 2 or later.  See
 # the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
 
-set -e
-
 substat=".git-submodule-status"
 
 command=$1
 shift
-modules="$@"
+maybe_modules="$@"
 
-if test -z "$modules"
-then
-    test -e $substat || touch $substat
-    exit 0
-fi
+test -z "$GIT" && GIT=git
+
+error() {
+    echo "$0: $*"
+    echo
+    echo "Unable to automatically checkout GIT submodules '$modules'."
+    echo "If you require use of an alternative GIT binary (for example to"
+    echo "enable use of a transparent proxy), then please specify it by"
+    echo "running configure by with the '--with-git' argument. e.g."
+    echo
+    echo " $ ./configure --with-git='tsocks git'"
+    echo
+    echo "Alternatively you may disable automatic GIT submodule checkout"
+    echo "with:"
+    echo
+    echo " $ ./configure --disable-git-update'"
+    echo
+    echo "and then manually update submodules prior to running make, with:"
+    echo
+    echo " $ scripts/git-sbumodule.sh update $modules"
+    echo
+    exit 1
+}
 
-if ! test -e ".git"
+modules=""
+for m in $maybe_modules
+do
+    $GIT submodule status $m 1> /dev/null 2>&1
+    if test $? = 0
+    then
+        modules="$modules $m"
+    else
+        echo "warn: ignoring non-existent submodule $m"
+    fi
+done
+
+if test -n "$maybe_modules" && ! test -e ".git"
 then
     echo "$0: unexpectedly called with submodules but no git checkout exists"
     exit 1
@@ -25,14 +53,30 @@ fi
 
 case "$command" in
 status)
+    if test -z "$maybe_modules"
+    then
+         test -s ${substat} && exit 1 || exit 0
+    fi
+
     test -f "$substat" || exit 1
-    trap "rm -f ${substat}.tmp" EXIT
-    git submodule status $modules > "${substat}.tmp"
-    diff "${substat}" "${substat}.tmp" >/dev/null
+    CURSTATUS=`$GIT submodule status $modules`
+    OLDSTATUS=`cat $substat`
+    test "$CURSTATUS" = "$OLDSTATUS"
     exit $?
     ;;
 update)
-    git submodule update --init $modules 1>/dev/null
-    git submodule status $modules > "${substat}"
+    if test -z "$maybe_modules"
+    then
+        test -e $substat || touch $substat
+        exit 0
+    fi
+
+    $GIT submodule update --init $modules 1>/dev/null
+    test $? -ne 0 && error "failed to update modules"
+
+    $GIT submodule status $modules > "${substat}"
+    test $? -ne 0 && error "failed to save git submodule status" >&2
     ;;
 esac
+
+exit 0