diff --git a/src/gl-compile-conf b/src/gl-compile-conf
index a6df657..220d4b8 100755
--- a/src/gl-compile-conf
+++ b/src/gl-compile-conf
@@ -392,6 +392,12 @@ my ($gv_maj, $gv_min, $gv_patchrel) = ($git_version =~ m/git version (\d+)\.(\d+
 die "$ABRT I can't understand $git_version\n" unless ($gv_maj >= 1);
 $git_version = $gv_maj*10000 + $gv_min*100 + $gv_patchrel;  # now it's "normalised"
 
+die "\n\t\t***** AAARGH! *****\n" .
+    "\tyour git version is older than 1.6.2\n" .
+    "\tsince that is now more than one year old, and gitolite needs some of\n" .
+    "\tthe newer features, please upgrade.\n"
+    if $git_version < 10602;     # that's 1.6.2 to you
+
 # repo-base needs to be an absolute path for this loop to work right
 # so if it was not already absolute, prefix $HOME.
 my $repo_base_abs = ( $REPO_BASE =~ m(^/) ? $REPO_BASE : "$ENV{HOME}/$REPO_BASE" );
@@ -421,12 +427,6 @@ for my $repo (sort keys %repos) {
     }
 }
 
-die "\n\t\t***** AAARGH! *****\n" .
-    "\tyour git version is older than 1.6.2\n" .
-    "\tsince that is now more than one year old, and gitolite needs some of\n" .
-    "\tthe newer features, please upgrade.\n"
-    if $git_version < 10602;     # that's 1.6.2 to you
-
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       update repo configurations
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------