diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 0309c27821..0320a9ad14 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -748,7 +748,7 @@ static const char *setup_bare_git_dir(struct strbuf *cwd, int offset,
 
 	/* --work-tree is set without --git-dir; use discovered one */
 	if (getenv(GIT_WORK_TREE_ENVIRONMENT) || git_work_tree_cfg) {
-		const char *gitdir;
+		static const char *gitdir;
 
 		gitdir = offset == cwd->len ? "." : xmemdupz(cwd->buf, offset);
 		if (chdir(cwd->buf))