diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index c598dc636..02b4b140a 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -505,6 +505,13 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 	if (!cmd)
 		cmd = "git-help";
 
+	/*
+	 * Always open file descriptors 0/1/2 to avoid clobbering files
+	 * in die().  It also avoids messing up when the pipes are dup'ed
+	 * onto stdin/stdout/stderr in the child processes we spawn.
+	 */
+	sanitize_stdfds();
+
 	git_setup_gettext();
 
 	/*