diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f642752f9cedf..7ecd812ce2d84 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -297,11 +297,20 @@ fi
 
 step_msg "looking for build programs"
 
-probe_need CFG_PERL         perl
-probe_need CFG_PYTHON       python python2.6 python2 python3
-probe_need CFG_CURL         curl
+probe_need CFG_PERL        perl
+probe_need CFG_PYTHON      python python2.6 python2 python3
+probe_need CFG_CURL        curl
+
+# If we have no git directory then we are probably a tarball distribution
+# and shouldn't attempt to load submodules
+if [ ! -e ${CFG_SRC_DIR}.git ]
+then
+    msg "git: no git directory. disabling submodules"
+    CFG_DISABLE_MANAGE_SUBMODULES=1
+else
+    probe_need CFG_GIT              git
+fi
 
-probe CFG_GIT              git
 probe CFG_CLANG            clang++
 probe CFG_GCC              gcc
 probe CFG_LLVM_CONFIG      llvm-config