@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 
 execute_kwargs = ('istream', 'with_keep_cwd', 'with_extended_output',
                   'with_exceptions', 'as_process', 'stdout_as_string',
-                  'output_stream')
+                  'output_stream', 'with_stdout')
 
 log = logging.getLogger('git.cmd')
 log.addHandler(logging.NullHandler())
@@ -65,84 +65,6 @@ def _bchr(c):
 # Documentation
 ## @{
 
-def _parse_lines_from_buffer(buf):
-    line = b''
-    bi = 0
-    lb = len(buf)
-    while bi < lb:
-        char = _bchr(buf[bi])
-        bi += 1
-
-        if char in (b'\r', b'\n') and line:
-            yield bi, line
-            line = b''
-        else:
-            line += char
-        # END process parsed line
-    # END while file is not done reading
-# end
-
-def _read_lines_from_fno(fno, last_buf_list):
-    buf = os.read(fno, mmap.PAGESIZE)
-    buf = last_buf_list[0] + buf
-
-    bi = 0
-    for bi, line in _parse_lines_from_buffer(buf):
-        yield line
-    # for each line to parse from the buffer
-
-    # keep remainder
-    last_buf_list[0] = buf[bi:]
-
-def _dispatch_single_line(line, handler):
-    line = line.decode(defenc)
-    if line and handler:
-        try:
-            handler(line)
-        except Exception:
-            # Keep reading, have to pump the lines empty nontheless
-            log.error("Line handler exception on line: %s", line, exc_info=True)
-        # end
-    # end dispatch helper
-# end single line helper
-
-def _dispatch_lines(fno, handler, buf_list):
-    lc = 0
-    last_buf = buf_list[0]
-    while True:
-        for line in _read_lines_from_fno(fno, buf_list):
-            _dispatch_single_line(line, handler)
-            lc += 1
-        # for each line
-
-        if last_buf == buf_list[0]:
-            break
-
-        last_buf = buf_list[0]
-    # end endless loop
-    return lc
-# end
-
-def _deplete_buffer(fno, handler, buf_list, wg=None):
-    lc = 0
-    while True:
-        line_count = _dispatch_lines(fno, handler, buf_list)
-        lc += line_count
-        if line_count == 0:
-            break
-    # end deplete buffer
-
-    if buf_list[0]:
-        _dispatch_single_line(buf_list[0], handler)
-        lc += 1
-    # end
-
-    if wg:
-        wg.done()
-
-    return lc
-# end
-
 def handle_process_output(process, stdout_handler, stderr_handler, finalizer):
     """Registers for notifications to lean that process output is ready to read, and dispatches lines to
     the respective line handlers. We are able to handle carriage returns in case progress is sent by that
@@ -156,6 +78,76 @@ def handle_process_output(process, stdout_handler, stderr_handler, finalizer):
     fdmap = {process.stdout.fileno(): (stdout_handler, [b'']),
              process.stderr.fileno(): (stderr_handler, [b''])}
 
+    def _parse_lines_from_buffer(buf):
+        line = b''
+        bi = 0
+        lb = len(buf)
+        while bi < lb:
+            char = _bchr(buf[bi])
+            bi += 1
+
+            if char in (b'\r', b'\n') and line:
+                yield bi, line
+                line = b''
+            else:
+                line += char
+            # END process parsed line
+        # END while file is not done reading
+    # end
+
+    def _read_lines_from_fno(fno, last_buf_list):
+        buf = os.read(fno, mmap.PAGESIZE)
+        buf = last_buf_list[0] + buf
+
+        bi = 0
+        for bi, line in _parse_lines_from_buffer(buf):
+            yield line
+        # for each line to parse from the buffer
+
+        # keep remainder
+        last_buf_list[0] = buf[bi:]
+
+    def _dispatch_single_line(line, handler):
+        line = line.decode(defenc)
+        if line and handler:
+            try:
+                handler(line)
+            except Exception:
+                # Keep reading, have to pump the lines empty nontheless
+                log.error("Line handler exception on line: %s", line, exc_info=True)
+            # end
+        # end dispatch helper
+    # end single line helper
+
+    def _dispatch_lines(fno, handler, buf_list):
+        lc = 0
+        for line in _read_lines_from_fno(fno, buf_list):
+            _dispatch_single_line(line, handler)
+            lc += 1
+        # for each line
+        return lc
+    # end
+
+    def _deplete_buffer(fno, handler, buf_list, wg=None):
+        lc = 0
+        while True:
+            line_count = _dispatch_lines(fno, handler, buf_list)
+            lc += line_count
+            if line_count == 0:
+                break
+        # end deplete buffer
+
+        if buf_list[0]:
+            _dispatch_single_line(buf_list[0], handler)
+            lc += 1
+        # end
+
+        if wg:
+            wg.done()
+
+        return lc
+    # end
+
     if hasattr(select, 'poll'):
         # poll is preferred, as select is limited to file handles up to 1024 ... . This could otherwise be
         # an issue for us, as it matters how many handles our own process has
@@ -483,6 +475,7 @@ def execute(self, command,
                 as_process=False,
                 output_stream=None,
                 stdout_as_string=True,
+                with_stdout=True,
                 **subprocess_kwargs
                 ):
         """Handles executing the command on the shell and consumes and returns
@@ -536,6 +529,8 @@ def execute(self, command,
             some of the valid kwargs are already set by this method, the ones you
             specify may not be the same ones.
 
+        :param with_stdout: If True, default True, we open stdout on the created process
+
         :return:
             * str(output) if extended_output = False (Default)
             * tuple(int(status), str(stdout), str(stderr)) if extended_output = True
@@ -586,7 +581,7 @@ def execute(self, command,
                          cwd=cwd,
                          stdin=istream,
                          stderr=PIPE,
-                         stdout=PIPE,
+                         stdout=with_stdout and PIPE or None,
                          shell=self.USE_SHELL,
                          close_fds=(os.name == 'posix'),  # unsupported on windows
                          **subprocess_kwargs
 
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ def _get_fetch_info_from_stderr(self, proc, progress):
 
         progress_handler = progress.new_message_handler()
 
-        def my_progress_handler(line):
+        for line in proc.stderr.readlines():
             for pline in progress_handler(line):
                 if line.startswith('fatal:') or line.startswith('error:'):
                     raise GitCommandError(("Error when fetching: %s" % line,), 2)
@@ -563,9 +563,7 @@ def my_progress_handler(line):
                 # end for each comand code we know
             # end for each line progress didn't handle
         # end
-
-        # We are only interested in stderr here ...
-        handle_process_output(proc, None, my_progress_handler, finalize_process)
+        finalize_process(proc)
 
         # read head information
         fp = open(join(self.repo.git_dir, 'FETCH_HEAD'), 'rb')
@@ -651,7 +649,8 @@ def fetch(self, refspec=None, progress=None, **kwargs):
         else:
             args = [refspec]
 
-        proc = self.repo.git.fetch(self, *args, with_extended_output=True, as_process=True, v=True, **kwargs)
+        proc = self.repo.git.fetch(self, *args, with_extended_output=True, as_process=True, with_stdout=True, v=True,
+                                   **kwargs)
         res = self._get_fetch_info_from_stderr(proc, progress or RemoteProgress())
         if hasattr(self.repo.odb, 'update_cache'):
             self.repo.odb.update_cache()
 
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import sys
+
+for line in open(sys.argv[1]).readlines():
+    sys.stdout.write(line)
+    sys.stderr.write(line)
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 # This module is part of GitPython and is released under
 # the BSD License: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
 import os
+import sys
 import mock
+import subprocess
 
 from git.test.lib import (
     TestBase,
@@ -22,7 +24,6 @@
     GitCommandNotFound,
     Repo
 )
-from git.cmd import _deplete_buffer
 from gitdb.test.lib import with_rw_directory
 
 from git.compat import PY3
@@ -206,16 +207,25 @@ def test_environment(self, rw_dir):
             # end
         # end if select.poll exists
 
-    def test_dispatch_lines(self):
+    def test_handle_process_output(self):
+        from git.cmd import handle_process_output
+
         line_count = 5002
-        count = [0]
-        def counter(line):
-            count[0] += 1
+        count = [None, 0, 0]
+
+        def counter_stdout(line):
+            count[1] += 1
+
+        def counter_stderr(line):
+            count[2] += 1
+
+        proc = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, fixture_path('cat_file.py'), str(fixture_path('issue-301_stderr'))],
+                                stdin=None,
+                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                shell=False)
 
-        fd = os.open(fixture_path('issue-301_stderr'), os.O_RDONLY)
-        buf_list = [b'']
-        lines_parsed = _deplete_buffer(fd, counter, buf_list)
-        os.close(fd)
+        handle_process_output(proc, counter_stdout, counter_stderr, lambda proc: proc.wait())
 
-        assert lines_parsed == line_count
-        assert count[0] == line_count
+        assert count[1] == line_count
+        assert count[2] == line_count