diff --git a/apply.c b/apply.c
index 743b995822..97f8fe2910 100644
--- a/apply.c
+++ b/apply.c
@@ -1164,7 +1164,7 @@ static const char *skip_tree_prefix(int p_value,
  * creation or deletion of an empty file.  In any of these cases,
  * both sides are the same name under a/ and b/ respectively.
  */
-static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
+static char *git_header_name(int p_value,
 			     const char *line,
 			     int llen)
 {
@@ -1184,7 +1184,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 			goto free_and_fail1;
 
 		/* strip the a/b prefix including trailing slash */
-		cp = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, first.buf, first.len);
+		cp = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, first.buf, first.len);
 		if (!cp)
 			goto free_and_fail1;
 		strbuf_remove(&first, 0, cp - first.buf);
@@ -1201,7 +1201,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 		if (*second == '"') {
 			if (unquote_c_style(&sp, second, NULL))
 				goto free_and_fail1;
-			cp = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, sp.buf, sp.len);
+			cp = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, sp.buf, sp.len);
 			if (!cp)
 				goto free_and_fail1;
 			/* They must match, otherwise ignore */
@@ -1212,7 +1212,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 		}
 
 		/* unquoted second */
-		cp = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, second, line + llen - second);
+		cp = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, second, line + llen - second);
 		if (!cp)
 			goto free_and_fail1;
 		if (line + llen - cp != first.len ||
@@ -1227,7 +1227,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 	}
 
 	/* unquoted first name */
-	name = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, line, llen);
+	name = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, line, llen);
 	if (!name)
 		return NULL;
 
@@ -1243,7 +1243,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 			if (unquote_c_style(&sp, second, NULL))
 				goto free_and_fail2;
 
-			np = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, sp.buf, sp.len);
+			np = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, sp.buf, sp.len);
 			if (!np)
 				goto free_and_fail2;
 
@@ -1287,7 +1287,7 @@ static char *git_header_name(struct apply_state *state,
 			 */
 			if (!name[len + 1])
 				return NULL; /* no postimage name */
-			second = skip_tree_prefix(state->p_value, name + len + 1,
+			second = skip_tree_prefix(p_value, name + len + 1,
 						  line_len - (len + 1));
 			if (!second)
 				return NULL;
@@ -1333,7 +1333,7 @@ static int parse_git_header(struct apply_state *state,
 	 * or removing or adding empty files), so we get
 	 * the default name from the header.
 	 */
-	patch->def_name = git_header_name(state, line, len);
+	patch->def_name = git_header_name(state->p_value, line, len);
 	if (patch->def_name && state->root.len) {
 		char *s = xstrfmt("%s%s", state->root.buf, patch->def_name);
 		free(patch->def_name);