diff --git a/GitRepo.hs b/GitRepo.hs
index f489dfe35d..24bc9b5c2b 100644
--- a/GitRepo.hs
+++ b/GitRepo.hs
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ import Data.Char
 import Data.Word (Word8)
 import Codec.Binary.UTF8.String (encode)
 import Text.Printf
-import Data.List (isInfixOf, isPrefixOf)
+import Data.List (isInfixOf, isPrefixOf, isSuffixOf)
 import System.Exit
 
 import Utility
@@ -111,10 +111,24 @@ repoFromAbsPath dir
 	| "/" `isPrefixOf` dir = do
  		-- Git always looks for "dir.git" in preference to
 		-- to "dir", even if dir ends in a "/".
-		let dir' = (dropTrailingPathSeparator dir) ++ ".git"
+		let canondir = dropTrailingPathSeparator dir
+		let dir' = canondir ++ ".git"
 		e <- doesDirectoryExist dir'
-		return $ newFrom $ Dir $ if e then dir' else dir
+		if e
+			then ret dir'
+			else if "/.git" `isSuffixOf` canondir
+				then do
+					-- When dir == "foo/.git", git looks
+					-- for "foo/.git/.git", and failing
+					-- that, uses "foo" as the repository.
+					e' <- doesDirectoryExist $ dir </> ".git"
+					if e'
+						then ret dir
+						else ret $ takeDirectory canondir
+				else ret dir
 	| otherwise = error $ "internal error, " ++ dir ++ " is not absolute"
+	where
+		ret = return . newFrom . Dir
 
 {- Remote Repo constructor. Throws exception on invalid url. -}
 repoFromUrl :: String -> IO Repo
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index cf1c9baf95..76495c9017 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+git-annex (0.20110522) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * Closer emulation of git's behavior when told to use "foo/.git" as a
+    git repository instead of just "foo". Closes: #627563
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Sun, 22 May 2011 14:03:42 -0400
+
 git-annex (0.20110521) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * status: New subcommand to show info about an annex, including its size.
diff --git a/doc/bugs/weird_local_clone_confuses.mdwn b/doc/bugs/weird_local_clone_confuses.mdwn
index 371f6d9a5e..aa838f1670 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/weird_local_clone_confuses.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/weird_local_clone_confuses.mdwn
@@ -16,3 +16,5 @@ Just tested, and the new support for bare repositories didn't solve this.
 I think this is not something git-annex should go out of its way to
 support. [[done]]
 --[[Joey]] 
+
+Later.. Fixed this after all. --[[Joey]]