diff --git a/archive.c b/archive.c
index 0a07b140fe..994495af05 100644
--- a/archive.c
+++ b/archive.c
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ static void parse_treeish_arg(const char **argv,
 	if (get_oid(name, &oid))
 		die("Not a valid object name");
 
-	commit = lookup_commit_reference_gently(the_repository, &oid, 1);
+	commit = lookup_commit_reference_gently(ar_args->repo, &oid, 1);
 	if (commit) {
 		commit_sha1 = commit->object.oid.hash;
 		archive_time = commit->date;