diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 425e9a4ace..072d4267b6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ CFLAGS+=$(COPTS) -Wall $(DEFINES)
 
 prefix=$(HOME)
 bindir=$(prefix)/bin
-etcdir=$(prefix)/etc
-etcgitdir=$(etcdir)/git-core
+template_dir=$(prefix)/share/git-core/templates/
 # dest=
 
 CC?=gcc
@@ -147,7 +146,6 @@ endif
 endif
 
 CFLAGS += '-DSHA1_HEADER=$(SHA1_HEADER)'
-CFLAGS += '-DDEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_ENVIRONMENT="$(etcgitdir)/templates"'
 
 
 
@@ -155,6 +153,8 @@ CFLAGS += '-DDEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_ENVIRONMENT="$(etcgitdir)/templates"'
 
 all: $(PROG)
 
+all:
+	$(MAKE) -C templates
 
 .PRECIOUS: %.o
 git-%: %.o $(LIB_FILE)
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ git-ssh-push: rsh.o
 git-http-pull: LIBS += -lcurl
 git-rev-list: LIBS += $(OPENSSL_LIBSSL)
 
+init-db.o: init-db.c
+	$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) -DDEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR='"$(template_dir)"' $*.c
+
 $(LIB_OBJS): $(LIB_H)
 $(DIFF_OBJS): diffcore.h
 
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 6dbc32a7e6..957e2ca7ca 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -128,10 +128,6 @@ extern unsigned int active_nr, active_alloc, active_cache_changed;
 #define DB_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY"
 #define INDEX_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_INDEX_FILE"
 #define GRAFT_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_GRAFT_FILE"
-#define TEMPLATE_DIR_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_TEMPLATE_DIRECTORY"
-#ifndef DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_ENVIRONMENT
-#define DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_ENVIRONMENT "/etc/git-core/templates"
-#endif
 
 extern char *get_object_directory(void);
 extern char *get_refs_directory(void);
diff --git a/init-db.c b/init-db.c
index 3f53d6c77e..1fb3f7fa79 100644
--- a/init-db.c
+++ b/init-db.c
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
  */
 #include "cache.h"
 
+#ifndef DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR
+#define DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR "/usr/share/git-core/templates/"
+#endif
+
 static void safe_create_dir(const char *dir)
 {
 	if (mkdir(dir, 0777) < 0) {
@@ -127,36 +131,37 @@ static void copy_templates_1(char *path, int baselen,
 	}
 }
 
-static void copy_templates(const char *git_dir)
+static void copy_templates(const char *git_dir, int len, char *template_dir)
 {
 	char path[PATH_MAX];
 	char template_path[PATH_MAX];
-	char *template_dir;
-	int len, template_len;
+	int template_len;
 	DIR *dir;
 
-	strcpy(path, git_dir);
-	len = strlen(path);
-	template_dir = gitenv(TEMPLATE_DIR_ENVIRONMENT);
 	if (!template_dir)
-		template_dir = DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_ENVIRONMENT;
+		template_dir = DEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR;
 	strcpy(template_path, template_dir);
 	template_len = strlen(template_path);
 	if (template_path[template_len-1] != '/') {
 		template_path[template_len++] = '/';
 		template_path[template_len] = 0;
 	}
-
 	dir = opendir(template_path);
-	if (!dir)
+	if (!dir) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "warning: templates not found %s\n",
+			template_dir);
 		return;
+	}
+
+	memcpy(path, git_dir, len);
 	copy_templates_1(path, len,
 			 template_path, template_len,
 			 dir);
 	closedir(dir);
 }
 
-static void create_default_files(const char *git_dir)
+static void create_default_files(const char *git_dir,
+				 char *template_path)
 {
 	unsigned len = strlen(git_dir);
 	static char path[PATH_MAX];
@@ -189,10 +194,12 @@ static void create_default_files(const char *git_dir)
 			exit(1);
 		}
 	}
-	path[len] = 0;
-	copy_templates(path);
+	copy_templates(path, len, template_path);
 }
 
+static const char init_db_usage[] =
+"git-init-db [--template=<template-directory>]";
+
 /*
  * If you want to, you can share the DB area with any number of branches.
  * That has advantages: you can save space by sharing all the SHA1 objects.
@@ -203,9 +210,19 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	const char *git_dir;
 	const char *sha1_dir;
-	char *path;
+	char *path, *template_dir = NULL;
 	int len, i;
 
+	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++, argv++) {
+		char *arg = argv[1];
+		if (arg[0] != '-')
+			break;
+		else if (!strncmp(arg, "--template=", 11))
+			template_dir = arg+11;
+		else
+			die(init_db_usage);
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * Set up the default .git directory contents
 	 */
@@ -215,7 +232,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		fprintf(stderr, "defaulting to local storage area\n");
 	}
 	safe_create_dir(git_dir);
-	create_default_files(git_dir);
+	create_default_files(git_dir, template_dir);
 
 	/*
 	 * And set up the object store.
diff --git a/templates/Makefile b/templates/Makefile
index 12433519ee..6b2a90071b 100644
--- a/templates/Makefile
+++ b/templates/Makefile
@@ -1,19 +1,38 @@
-# make
+# make and install sample templates
 
 INSTALL=install
 prefix=$(HOME)
-etcdir=$(prefix)/etc
-etcgitdir=$(etcdir)/git-core
-templatedir=$(etcgitdir)/templates
+template_dir=$(prefix)/share/git-core/templates/
 # dest=
 
-all:
-clean:
+all: boilerplates custom
+	find blt
 
-install:
-	$(INSTALL) -d -m755 $(dest)$(templatedir)/hooks/
-	$(foreach s,$(wildcard hooks--*),\
-		$(INSTALL) -m644 $s \
-		$(dest)$(templatedir)/hooks/$(patsubst hooks--%,%,$s);)
-	$(INSTALL) -d -m755 $(dest)$(templatedir)/info
-	$(INSTALL) -d -m755 $(dest)$(templatedir)/branches
+# Put templates that can be copied straight from the source
+# in a file direc--tory--file in the source.  They will be
+# just copied to the destination.
+boilerplates:
+	ls *--* 2>/dev/null | \
+	while read boilerplate; \
+	do \
+		case "$$boilerplate" in *~) continue ;; esac && \
+		dst=`echo "$$boilerplate" | sed -e 's|^this|.|;s|--|/|g'` && \
+		dir=`expr "$$dst" : '\(.*\)/'` && \
+		mkdir -p blt/$$dir && \
+		case "$$boilerplate" in \
+		*--) ;; \
+		*) cp $$boilerplate blt/$$dst ;; \
+		esac || exit; \
+	done || exit
+
+# If you need build-tailored templates, build them into blt/
+# directory yourself here.
+custom:
+	: no custom templates yet
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf blt
+
+install: all
+	$(INSTALL) -d -m755 $(dest)$(template_dir)
+	tar Ccf blt - . | tar Cxf $(dest)$(template_dir) -
diff --git a/templates/branches-- b/templates/branches--
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fae88709a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/branches--
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+: this is just to ensure the directory exists.
diff --git a/templates/info--exclude b/templates/info--exclude
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2c87b72dff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/info--exclude
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# git-ls-files --others --exclude-from=.git/info/exclude
+# Lines that start with '#' are comments.
+# For a project mostly in C, the following would be a good set of
+# exclude patterns (uncomment them if you want to use them):
+# *.[oa]
+# *~
diff --git a/templates/this--description b/templates/this--description
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c6f25e80b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/this--description
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Unnamed repository; edit this file to name it for gitweb.