diff --git a/src/gl-compile-conf b/src/gl-compile-conf
index 3f1e231..f79b713 100755
--- a/src/gl-compile-conf
+++ b/src/gl-compile-conf
@@ -320,6 +320,20 @@ 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"
 
+# 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 $repo (sort keys %repos) {
+    unless (-d "$repo.git") {
+        new_repo($repo, "$GL_ADMINDIR/src/hooks");
+        # 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" .
@@ -335,10 +349,6 @@ 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...