diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 2abb7b5937..86075ec616 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -223,11 +223,13 @@ unless ($cmd && $cmd =~ /(?:clone|init|multi-init)$/) {
 			    "but it is not a directory\n";
 		}
 		my $git_dir = delete $ENV{GIT_DIR};
-		chomp(my $cdup = command_oneline(qw/rev-parse --show-cdup/));
-		unless (length $cdup) {
-			die "Already at toplevel, but $git_dir ",
-			    "not found '$cdup'\n";
-		}
+		my $cdup = undef;
+		git_cmd_try {
+			$cdup = command_oneline(qw/rev-parse --show-cdup/);
+			$git_dir = '.' unless ($cdup);
+			chomp $cdup if ($cdup);
+			$cdup = "." unless ($cdup && length $cdup);
+		} "Already at toplevel, but $git_dir not found\n";
 		chdir $cdup or die "Unable to chdir up to '$cdup'\n";
 		unless (-d $git_dir) {
 			die "$git_dir still not found after going to ",
diff --git a/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh b/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
index 9b238c329b..bb921af56a 100755
--- a/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
@@ -265,4 +265,13 @@ test_expect_success 'able to set-tree to a subdirectory' "
 	test -z \"\`git diff refs/heads/my-bar refs/remotes/bar\`\"
 	"
 
+test_expect_success 'git-svn works in a bare repository' '
+	mkdir bare-repo &&
+	( cd bare-repo &&
+	git init --bare &&
+	GIT_DIR=. git svn init "$svnrepo" &&
+	git svn fetch ) &&
+	rm -rf bare-repo
+	'
+
 test_done