diff --git a/src/ga-post-update-hook b/src/ga-post-update-hook
index 8090b8a..91d2bfb 100755
--- a/src/ga-post-update-hook
+++ b/src/ga-post-update-hook
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-# get this from your .gitolite.conf; and don't forget this is shell, while
-# that is perl :-)
-export GL_ADMINDIR; GL_ADMINDIR=$HOME/.gitolite
-
 # checkout the master branch to $GL_ADMINDIR
+# (the GL_ADMINDIR env var would have been set by gl-auth-command)
 GIT_WORK_TREE=$GL_ADMINDIR git checkout -f master
 
 # remove all fragments.  otherwise, you get spurious error messages when you
@@ -31,4 +28,4 @@ do
 done
 
 cd $GL_ADMINDIR
-src/gl-compile-conf
+$GL_BINDIR/gl-compile-conf
diff --git a/src/gl-auth-command b/src/gl-auth-command
index 86fec88..12b3234 100755
--- a/src/gl-auth-command
+++ b/src/gl-auth-command
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ require "$bindir/gitolite.pm";
 &where_is_rc();
 die "parse $ENV{GL_RC} failed: "       . ($! or $@) unless do $ENV{GL_RC};
 
+# we need to pass GL_ADMINDIR and the bindir to the child hooks (well only the
+# admin repo's post-update hook but still...)
+$ENV{GL_ADMINDIR} = $GL_ADMINDIR;
+$ENV{GL_BINDIR} = $bindir;
+
 # add a custom path for git binaries, if specified
 $ENV{PATH} .= ":$GIT_PATH" if $GIT_PATH;
 
diff --git a/src/gl-compile-conf b/src/gl-compile-conf
index 138249d..ab1155c 100755
--- a/src/gl-compile-conf
+++ b/src/gl-compile-conf
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ $ENV{PATH} .= ":$GIT_PATH" if $GIT_PATH;
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # command and options for authorized_keys
-$AUTH_COMMAND="$GL_ADMINDIR/src/gl-auth-command";
+$AUTH_COMMAND="$bindir/gl-auth-command";
 $AUTH_OPTIONS="no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-agent-forwarding,no-pty";
 
 # groups can now represent user groups or repo groups.
diff --git a/src/gl-easy-install b/src/gl-easy-install
index db20e2f..d73c82d 100755
--- a/src/gl-easy-install
+++ b/src/gl-easy-install
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ main() {
     [[ $upgrade == 0 ]] && initial_conf_key
 
     # MANUAL: cd to $GL_ADMINDIR and run "src/gl-compile-conf"
-    ssh -p $port $user@$host "cd $GL_ADMINDIR; src/gl-compile-conf $quiet"
+    ssh -p $port $user@$host "cd $GL_ADMINDIR; \$PWD/src/gl-compile-conf $quiet"
 
     setup_pta
 
diff --git a/src/gl-install b/src/gl-install
index a4dc729..9494fc6 100755
--- a/src/gl-install
+++ b/src/gl-install
@@ -79,8 +79,6 @@ for my $repo (`find . -type d -name "*.git"`) {
 if ( -d "gitolite-admin.git/hooks" ) {
     print "copying post-update hook to gitolite-admin repo...\n";
     system("cp $GL_ADMINDIR/src/ga-post-update-hook gitolite-admin.git/hooks/post-update");
-    system("perl", "-i", "-p", "-e", "s(GL_ADMINDIR=.*)(GL_ADMINDIR=$GL_ADMINDIR)",
-        "gitolite-admin.git/hooks/post-update");
     chmod 0755, "gitolite-admin.git/hooks/post-update";
 }