diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index f704af5df0..2cb5371ac2 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -828,6 +828,13 @@ char *strip_path_suffix(const char *path, const char *suffix);
 int daemon_avoid_alias(const char *path);
 extern int is_ntfs_dotgit(const char *name);
 
+/**
+ * Return a newly allocated string with the evaluation of
+ * "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/$filename" if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is non-empty, otherwise
+ * "$HOME/.config/git/$filename". Return NULL upon error.
+ */
+extern char *xdg_config_home(const char *filename);
+
 /* object replacement */
 #define LOOKUP_REPLACE_OBJECT 1
 extern void *read_sha1_file_extended(const unsigned char *sha1, enum object_type *type, unsigned long *size, unsigned flag);
diff --git a/path.c b/path.c
index e608993801..4edc1eb868 100644
--- a/path.c
+++ b/path.c
@@ -856,3 +856,18 @@ int is_ntfs_dotgit(const char *name)
 			len = -1;
 		}
 }
+
+char *xdg_config_home(const char *filename)
+{
+	const char *home, *config_home;
+
+	assert(filename);
+	config_home = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
+	if (config_home && *config_home)
+		return mkpathdup("%s/git/%s", config_home, filename);
+
+	home = getenv("HOME");
+	if (home)
+		return mkpathdup("%s/.config/git/%s", home, filename);
+	return NULL;
+}