diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 213d07c42f..9d64142eae 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ git-annex (8.20201008) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * When a special remote has chunking enabled, but no chunk sizes are
     recorded (or the recorded ones are not found), speculatively try
     chunks using the configured chunk size.
+  * Fixed some problems that prevented this command from working:
+    git submodule foreach git annex init
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:48:17 -0400
 
diff --git a/Git/Construct.hs b/Git/Construct.hs
index 19c89958f2..39ac04df18 100644
--- a/Git/Construct.hs
+++ b/Git/Construct.hs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ module Git.Construct (
 	repoAbsPath,
 	checkForRepo,
 	newFrom,
+	adjustGitDirFile,
 ) where
 
 #ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ fromAbsPath dir
 				, ret (takeDirectory canondir)
 				)
 		| otherwise = ifM (doesDirectoryExist dir)
-			( gitDirFile dir >>= maybe (ret dir) (pure . newFrom)
+			( checkGitDirFile dir >>= maybe (ret dir) (pure . newFrom)
 			-- git falls back to dir.git when dir doesn't
 			-- exist, as long as dir didn't end with a
 			-- path separator
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@ expandTilde = expandt True
 checkForRepo :: FilePath -> IO (Maybe RepoLocation)
 checkForRepo dir = 
 	check isRepo $
-		check (gitDirFile dir) $
+		check (checkGitDirFile dir) $
 			check isBareRepo $
 				return Nothing
   where
@@ -219,24 +220,36 @@ checkForRepo dir =
 		<&&> doesDirectoryExist (dir </> "objects")
 	gitSignature file = doesFileExist $ dir </> file
 
+-- Check for a .git file.
+checkGitDirFile :: FilePath -> IO (Maybe RepoLocation)
+checkGitDirFile dir = adjustGitDirFile' $ Local 
+	{ gitdir = toRawFilePath (dir </> ".git")
+	, worktree = Just (toRawFilePath dir)
+	}
+
 -- git-submodule, git-worktree, and --separate-git-dir
 -- make .git be a file pointing to the real git directory.
 -- Detect that, and return a RepoLocation with gitdir pointing 
 -- to the real git directory.
-gitDirFile :: FilePath -> IO (Maybe RepoLocation)
-gitDirFile dir = do
-	c <- firstLine <$>
-		catchDefaultIO "" (readFile $ dir </> ".git")
-	return $ if gitdirprefix `isPrefixOf` c
-		then Just $ Local 
-			{ gitdir = toRawFilePath $ absPathFrom dir $
-				drop (length gitdirprefix) c
-			, worktree = Just (toRawFilePath dir)
-			}
-		else Nothing
+adjustGitDirFile :: RepoLocation -> IO RepoLocation
+adjustGitDirFile loc = fromMaybe loc <$> adjustGitDirFile' loc
+
+adjustGitDirFile' :: RepoLocation -> IO (Maybe RepoLocation)
+adjustGitDirFile' loc = do
+	let gd = fromRawFilePath (gitdir loc)
+	c <- firstLine <$> catchDefaultIO "" (readFile gd)
+	if gitdirprefix `isPrefixOf` c
+		then do
+			top <- takeDirectory <$> absPath gd
+			return $ Just $ loc
+				{ gitdir = toRawFilePath $ absPathFrom top $
+					drop (length gitdirprefix) c
+				}
+		else return Nothing
  where
 	gitdirprefix = "gitdir: "
 
+
 newFrom :: RepoLocation -> Repo
 newFrom l = Repo
 	{ location = l
diff --git a/Git/CurrentRepo.hs b/Git/CurrentRepo.hs
index 054a81e0b0..508e71cc9d 100644
--- a/Git/CurrentRepo.hs
+++ b/Git/CurrentRepo.hs
@@ -67,15 +67,14 @@ get = do
 	configure (Just d) _ = do
 		absd <- absPath d
 		curr <- getCurrentDirectory
-		r <- Git.Config.read $ newFrom $
-			Local
-				{ gitdir = toRawFilePath absd
-				, worktree = Just (toRawFilePath curr)
-				}
+		loc <- adjustGitDirFile $ Local
+			{ gitdir = toRawFilePath absd
+			, worktree = Just (toRawFilePath curr)
+			}
+		r <- Git.Config.read $ newFrom loc
 		return $ if Git.Config.isBare r
 			then r { location = (location r) { worktree = Nothing } }
 			else r
-
 	configure Nothing Nothing = giveup "Not in a git repository."
 
 	addworktree w r = changelocation r $ Local
diff --git a/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__.mdwn b/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__.mdwn
index c79dcae139..873a233c44 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__.mdwn
@@ -28,3 +28,5 @@ As a workaround, manually changing directory into each submodule and running `gi
 ### Have you had any luck using git-annex before? (Sometimes we get tired of reading bug reports all day and a lil' positive end note does wonders)
 
 I use it regularly with great success :)
+
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__/comment_3_23f3dac4a22cf7202a0bb849ee499766._comment b/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__/comment_3_23f3dac4a22cf7202a0bb849ee499766._comment
index a57d48445e..27a3c5bd0e 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__/comment_3_23f3dac4a22cf7202a0bb849ee499766._comment
+++ b/doc/bugs/__34__git_submodule_foreach_git_annex_init__34___fails_with___34__git__58___createProcess__58___runInteractiveProcess__58___chdir__58___inappropriate_type___40__Not_a_directory__41____34__/comment_3_23f3dac4a22cf7202a0bb849ee499766._comment
@@ -25,13 +25,11 @@ Where does that path that does not exist come from?
 .git/modules/sub/config has "core.worktree = ../../../sub"
 
 git clone sets that. And it's a path from ../.git/modules/sub/
-back to the work tree. git-annex interprets it as well, a regular path
-from the cwd, like it usually is. It's worth noting that setting
-`GIT_WORK_TREE` to the same value makes git behave differently!
-Nothing in git's docs seem to explain this mess.
+back to the work tree. git-annex interprets it as relative to `GIT_DIR`,
+which git submodule sets to ".git".
 
 So git-annex needs to check if .git is a gitdir: reference, and
-then interpret core.worktree relative to it.
+then interpret core.worktree relative to what it points to.
 
 Or, alternatively, fixupUnusualRepos could learn to tell if the *current*
 command is git-annex init, and go ahead with the fixes. Which would avoid