diff --git a/perl/Git/SVN.pm b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
index b2c14e2ff54..d94d01cfdc8 100644
--- a/perl/Git/SVN.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ sub resolve_local_globs {
 				    "existing: $existing\n",
 				    " globbed: $refname\n";
 			}
-			my $u = (::cmt_metadata("$refname"))[0];
+			my $u = (::cmt_metadata("$refname"))[0] or die
+			    "$refname: no associated commit metadata\n";
 			$u =~ s!^\Q$url\E(/|$)!! or die
 			  "$refname: '$url' not found in '$u'\n";
 			if ($pathname ne $u) {