diff --git a/t/t1515-rev-parse-outside-repo.sh b/t/t1515-rev-parse-outside-repo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ae330931b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t1515-rev-parse-outside-repo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='check that certain rev-parse options work outside repo'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success 'set up non-repo directory' '
+	GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=$(pwd) &&
+	export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES &&
+	mkdir non-repo &&
+	cd non-repo &&
+	# confirm that git does not find a repo
+	test_must_fail git rev-parse --git-dir
+'
+
+# Rather than directly test the output of sq-quote directly,
+# make sure the shell can read back a tricky case, since
+# that's what we really care about anyway.
+tricky="really tricky with \\ and \" and '"
+dump_args () {
+	for i in "$@"; do
+		echo "arg: $i"
+	done
+}
+test_expect_success 'rev-parse --sq-quote' '
+	dump_args "$tricky" easy >expect &&
+	eval "dump_args $(git rev-parse --sq-quote "$tricky" easy)" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_failure 'rev-parse --local-env-vars' '
+	git rev-parse --local-env-vars >actual &&
+	# we do not want to depend on the complete list here,
+	# so just look for something plausible
+	grep ^GIT_DIR actual
+'
+
+test_expect_failure 'rev-parse --resolve-git-dir' '
+	git init --separate-git-dir repo dir &&
+	test_must_fail git rev-parse --resolve-git-dir . &&
+	echo "$(pwd)/repo" >expect &&
+	git rev-parse --resolve-git-dir dir/.git >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_done