This change in2.0.9 is a bit problematic:

• Even if apath is explicitly provided to the constructor, theGIT_DIR environment variable is used instead
• For things like git hooks,GIT_DIR is set to.git by default. This will result inself.git_dir being set to.git (os.path.abspath instead ofos.path.normpath would fix this). Consequently, subsequent commands fails (eg:repo.git.status())