diff --git a/tests/testsuite/git.rs b/tests/testsuite/git.rs
index 1bd2a9d23ad..cdc2dd4ef0a 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/git.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/git.rs
@@ -2695,19 +2695,16 @@ fn git_fetch_cli_env_clean() {
 #[cargo_test]
 fn dirty_submodule() {
     // `cargo package` warns for dirty file in submodule.
-    let git_project = git::new("foo", |project| {
+    let (git_project, repo) = git::new_repo("foo", |project| {
         project
             .file("Cargo.toml", &basic_manifest("foo", "0.5.0"))
             // This is necessary because `git::add` is too eager.
             .file(".gitignore", "/target")
-    })
-    .unwrap();
+    });
     let git_project2 = git::new("src", |project| {
         project.no_manifest().file("lib.rs", "pub fn f() {}")
-    })
-    .unwrap();
+    });
 
-    let repo = git2::Repository::open(&git_project.root()).unwrap();
     let url = path2url(git_project2.root()).to_string();
     git::add_submodule(&repo, &url, Path::new("src"));
 
@@ -2757,7 +2754,7 @@ to proceed despite [..]
     git_project.cargo("package --no-verify").run();
 
     // Try with a nested submodule.
-    let git_project3 = git::new("bar", |project| project.no_manifest().file("mod.rs", "")).unwrap();
+    let git_project3 = git::new("bar", |project| project.no_manifest().file("mod.rs", ""));
     let url = path2url(git_project3.root()).to_string();
     git::add_submodule(&sub_repo, &url, Path::new("bar"));
     git_project
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/support/git.rs b/tests/testsuite/support/git.rs
index b9b1c515b0d..1213594c2cd 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/support/git.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/support/git.rs
@@ -129,11 +129,14 @@ impl Repository {
 /// Initialize a new repository at the given path.
 pub fn init(path: &Path) -> git2::Repository {
     let repo = t!(git2::Repository::init(path));
+    default_repo_cfg(&repo);
+    repo
+}
+
+fn default_repo_cfg(repo: &git2::Repository) {
     let mut cfg = t!(repo.config());
     t!(cfg.set_str("user.email", "foo@bar.com"));
     t!(cfg.set_str("user.name", "Foo Bar"));
-    drop(cfg);
-    repo
 }
 
 /// Create a new git repository with a project.
@@ -193,6 +196,7 @@ pub fn add_submodule<'a>(
     let path = path.to_str().unwrap().replace(r"\", "/");
     let mut s = t!(repo.submodule(url, Path::new(&path), false));
     let subrepo = t!(s.open());
+    default_repo_cfg(&subrepo);
     t!(subrepo.remote_add_fetch("origin", "refs/heads/*:refs/heads/*"));
     let mut origin = t!(subrepo.find_remote("origin"));
     t!(origin.fetch(&[], None, None));