diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index 55676fd874..bb97000320 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -1046,7 +1046,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (*argv)
 		s.pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv);
 
-	read_cache();
+	read_cache_preload(s.pathspec);
 	refresh_index(&the_index, REFRESH_QUIET|REFRESH_UNMERGED, s.pathspec, NULL, NULL);
 	s.is_initial = get_sha1(s.reference, sha1) ? 1 : 0;
 	s.in_merge = in_merge;