diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index d6b22ede7e..7d8a949285 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -330,8 +330,7 @@ char *get_graft_file(struct repository *r)
 
 static void set_git_dir_1(const char *path)
 {
-	if (setenv(GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT, path, 1))
-		die(_("could not set GIT_DIR to '%s'"), path);
+	xsetenv(GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT, path, 1);
 	setup_git_env(path);
 }
 
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index b46605300a..b3ee81602c 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -875,6 +875,8 @@ void *xmemdupz(const void *data, size_t len);
 char *xstrndup(const char *str, size_t len);
 void *xrealloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
 void *xcalloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size);
+void xsetenv(const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite);
+void xunsetenv(const char *name);
 void *xmmap(void *start, size_t length, int prot, int flags, int fd, off_t offset);
 const char *mmap_os_err(void);
 void *xmmap_gently(void *start, size_t length, int prot, int flags, int fd, off_t offset);
diff --git a/wrapper.c b/wrapper.c
index 7c6586af32..1460d4e27b 100644
--- a/wrapper.c
+++ b/wrapper.c
@@ -145,6 +145,18 @@ void *xcalloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+void xsetenv(const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite)
+{
+	if (setenv(name, value, overwrite))
+		die_errno(_("could not setenv '%s'"), name ? name : "(null)");
+}
+
+void xunsetenv(const char *name)
+{
+	if (!unsetenv(name))
+		die_errno(_("could not unsetenv '%s'"), name ? name : "(null)");
+}
+
 /*
  * Limit size of IO chunks, because huge chunks only cause pain.  OS X
  * 64-bit is buggy, returning EINVAL if len >= INT_MAX; and even in