diff --git a/remote-curl.c b/remote-curl.c
index 0290b04891..9d432c299a 100644
--- a/remote-curl.c
+++ b/remote-curl.c
@@ -555,6 +555,8 @@ static void output_refs(struct ref *refs)
 	struct ref *posn;
 	if (options.object_format && options.hash_algo) {
 		printf(":object-format %s\n", options.hash_algo->name);
+		repo_set_hash_algo(the_repository,
+				hash_algo_by_ptr(options.hash_algo));
 	}
 	for (posn = refs; posn; posn = posn->next) {
 		if (posn->symref)