diff --git a/perl/Git.pm b/perl/Git.pm
index 205e48aa3a..a86ab709c2 100644
--- a/perl/Git.pm
+++ b/perl/Git.pm
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ increase notwithstanding).
 
 use Carp qw(carp croak); # but croak is bad - throw instead
 use Error qw(:try);
-use Cwd qw(abs_path);
+use Cwd qw(abs_path cwd);
 use IPC::Open2 qw(open2);
 use Fcntl qw(SEEK_SET SEEK_CUR);
 }
@@ -396,7 +396,16 @@ See C<command_close_bidi_pipe()> for details.
 
 sub command_bidi_pipe {
 	my ($pid, $in, $out);
+	my ($self) = _maybe_self(@_);
+	local %ENV = %ENV;
+	my $cwd_save = undef;
+	if ($self) {
+		shift;
+		$cwd_save = cwd();
+		_setup_git_cmd_env($self);
+	}
 	$pid = open2($in, $out, 'git', @_);
+	chdir($cwd_save) if $cwd_save;
 	return ($pid, $in, $out, join(' ', @_));
 }
 
@@ -843,7 +852,7 @@ sub _open_hash_and_insert_object_if_needed {
 
 	($self->{hash_object_pid}, $self->{hash_object_in},
 	 $self->{hash_object_out}, $self->{hash_object_ctx}) =
-		command_bidi_pipe(qw(hash-object -w --stdin-paths --no-filters));
+		$self->command_bidi_pipe(qw(hash-object -w --stdin-paths --no-filters));
 }
 
 sub _close_hash_and_insert_object {
@@ -932,7 +941,7 @@ sub _open_cat_blob_if_needed {
 
 	($self->{cat_blob_pid}, $self->{cat_blob_in},
 	 $self->{cat_blob_out}, $self->{cat_blob_ctx}) =
-		command_bidi_pipe(qw(cat-file --batch));
+		$self->command_bidi_pipe(qw(cat-file --batch));
 }
 
 sub _close_cat_blob {
@@ -1279,6 +1288,14 @@ sub _command_common_pipe {
 # for the given repository and execute the git command.
 sub _cmd_exec {
 	my ($self, @args) = @_;
+	_setup_git_cmd_env($self);
+	_execv_git_cmd(@args);
+	die qq[exec "@args" failed: $!];
+}
+
+# set up the appropriate state for git command
+sub _setup_git_cmd_env {
+	my $self = shift;
 	if ($self) {
 		$self->repo_path() and $ENV{'GIT_DIR'} = $self->repo_path();
 		$self->repo_path() and $self->wc_path()
@@ -1286,8 +1303,6 @@ sub _cmd_exec {
 		$self->wc_path() and chdir($self->wc_path());
 		$self->wc_subdir() and chdir($self->wc_subdir());
 	}
-	_execv_git_cmd(@args);
-	die qq[exec "@args" failed: $!];
 }
 
 # Execute the given Git command ($_[0]) with arguments ($_[1..])
diff --git a/t/t9700/test.pl b/t/t9700/test.pl
index c15ca2d647..13ba96e21a 100755
--- a/t/t9700/test.pl
+++ b/t/t9700/test.pl
@@ -113,6 +113,16 @@ like($last_commit, qr/^[0-9a-fA-F]{40}$/, 'rev-parse returned hash');
 my $dir_commit = $r2->command_oneline('log', '-n1', '--pretty=format:%H', '.');
 isnt($last_commit, $dir_commit, 'log . does not show last commit');
 
+# commands outside working tree
+chdir($abs_repo_dir . '/..');
+my $r3 = Git->repository(Directory => $abs_repo_dir);
+my $tmpfile3 = "$abs_repo_dir/file3.tmp";
+open TEMPFILE3, "+>$tmpfile3" or die "Can't open $tmpfile3: $!";
+is($r3->cat_blob($file1hash, \*TEMPFILE3), 15, "cat_blob(outside): size");
+close TEMPFILE3;
+unlink $tmpfile3;
+chdir($abs_repo_dir);
+
 printf "1..%d\n", Test::More->builder->current_test;
 
 my $is_passing = eval { Test::More->is_passing };