@@ -35,8 +35,9 @@
                     rev_parse,
                     is_git_dir,
                     find_git_dir,
-                    touch
-                )
+                    read_gitfile,
+                    touch,
+				)
 
 import os
 import sys
@@ -52,7 +53,6 @@
 
 
 class Repo(object):
-
     """Represents a git repository and allows you to query references,
     gather commit information, generate diffs, create and clone repositories query
     the log.
@@ -117,6 +117,11 @@ def __init__(self, path=None, odbt=DefaultDBType):
                 self.git_dir = gitpath
                 self._working_tree_dir = curpath
                 break
+            gitpath = read_gitfile(curpath)
+            if gitpath:
+                self.git_dir = gitpath
+                self._working_tree_dir = curpath
+                break
             curpath, dummy = os.path.split(curpath)
             if not dummy:
                 break
 
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
                         )
 from string import digits
 
-__all__ = ('rev_parse', 'is_git_dir', 'touch')
+__all__ = ('rev_parse', 'is_git_dir', 'touch', 'read_gitfile', 'find_git_dir', 'name_to_object', 
+           'short_to_long', 'deref_tag', 'to_commit')
 
 
 def touch(filename):
@@ -45,6 +46,21 @@ def find_git_dir(d):
             return find_git_dir(d)
     return None
 
+def read_gitfile(f):
+    """ This is taken from the git setup.c:read_gitfile function.
+    :return gitdir path or None if gitfile is invalid."""
+    if f is None:
+        return None
+    try:
+       line = open(f, 'r').readline().rstrip()
+    except (OSError, IOError):
+        # File might not exist or is unreadable - ignore
+        return None
+    # end handle file access
+    if line[0:8] != 'gitdir: ':
+        return None
+    path = os.path.realpath(line[8:])
+    return path if is_git_dir(path) else None
 
 def short_to_long(odb, hexsha):
     """:return: long hexadecimal sha1 from the given less-than-40 byte hexsha