diff --git a/src/gl-auth-command b/src/gl-auth-command
index 31d1fa8..a135be6 100755
--- a/src/gl-auth-command
+++ b/src/gl-auth-command
@@ -100,6 +100,15 @@ die "$perm access for $repo DENIED to $user\n"
     unless $repos{$repo}{$perm}{$user}
         or $repos{$repo}{$perm}{'@all'};
 
+# create the repo if it doesn't already exist and the user has "W" access
+my $repo_base_abs = ( $REPO_BASE =~ m(^/) ? $REPO_BASE : "$ENV{HOME}/$REPO_BASE" );
+if ( ( $repos{$repo}{W}{$user}
+    or $repos{$repo}{W}{'@all'} ) and not -d "$repo_base_abs/$repo.git" ) {
+    wrap_chdir("$repo_base_abs");
+    new_repo($repo, "$GL_ADMINDIR/src/hooks");
+    wrap_chdir($ENV{HOME});
+}
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       logging, timestamp.  also setup env vars for later
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/gl-compile-conf b/src/gl-compile-conf
index d939e5f..583a3f0 100755
--- a/src/gl-compile-conf
+++ b/src/gl-compile-conf
@@ -312,27 +312,12 @@ my $git_version = `git --version`;
 my ($gv_maj, $gv_min, $gv_patchrel) = ($git_version =~ m/git version (\d+)\.(\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"
-my $git_too_old = 0;
 
-# 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}/$REPO_BASE" );
-wrap_chdir("$repo_base_abs");
-for my $repo (keys %repos)
-{
-    unless (-d "$repo.git")
-    {
-        new_repo($repo, "$GL_ADMINDIR/src/hooks");
-        $git_too_old++ if $git_version < 10602;     # that's 1.6.2 to you
-        # new_repo would have chdir'd us away; come back
-        wrap_chdir("$repo_base_abs");
-    }
-}
 warn "\n\t\t***** WARNING *****\n" .
     "\tyour git version is older than 1.6.2\n" .
     "\tgitolite will work but you MUST read the section on\n" .
     "\t\"git version dependency\" in doc/3-faq-tips-etc.mkd\n"
-    if $git_too_old;
+    if $git_version < 10602;     # that's 1.6.2 to you
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       handle gitweb and daemon
@@ -343,6 +328,10 @@ warn "\n\t\t***** WARNING *****\n" .
 # :-)  These are now "pseduo users" -- giving them "R" access to a repo is all
 # you have to do
 
+# 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}/$REPO_BASE" );
+
 wrap_chdir("$repo_base_abs");
 
 # daemons first...