diff --git a/http-fetch.c b/http-fetch.c
index bec94988bb..d460bb1837 100644
--- a/http-fetch.c
+++ b/http-fetch.c
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE
+
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
@@ -127,8 +129,12 @@ int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 		} else if (skip_prefix(argv[arg], "--packfile=", &p)) {
 			const char *end;
 
+			if (nongit)
+				die(_("not a git repository"));
+
 			packfile = 1;
-			if (parse_oid_hex(p, &packfile_hash, &end) || *end)
+			if (parse_oid_hex_algop(p, &packfile_hash, &end,
+						the_repository->hash_algo) || *end)
 				die(_("argument to --packfile must be a valid hash (got '%s')"), p);
 		} else if (skip_prefix(argv[arg], "--index-pack-arg=", &p)) {
 			strvec_push(&index_pack_args, p);
diff --git a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
index 5f16cbc58d..ea8e48f627 100755
--- a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
+++ b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ test_expect_success 'setup repository' '
 	git commit -m two
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'packfile without repository does not crash' '
+	echo "fatal: not a git repository" >expect &&
+	test_must_fail nongit git http-fetch --packfile=abc 2>err &&
+	test_cmp expect err
+'
+
 setup_post_update_server_info_hook () {
 	test_hook --setup -C "$1" post-update <<-\EOF &&
 	exec git update-server-info
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 862d80c974..34bc7d7da4 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -1096,6 +1096,11 @@ test_must_fail_acceptable () {
 		done
 	fi
 
+	if test "$1" = "nongit"
+	then
+		shift
+	fi
+
 	case "$1" in
 	git|__git*|scalar|test-tool|test_terminal)
 		return 0