diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index b124404663..7c8a992fcb 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -404,13 +404,13 @@ static struct ref_store *reftable_be_init(struct repository *repo,
 	default:
 		BUG("unknown hash algorithm %d", repo->hash_algo->format_id);
 	}
-	refs->write_options.default_permissions = calc_shared_perm(the_repository, 0666 & ~mask);
+	refs->write_options.default_permissions = calc_shared_perm(repo, 0666 & ~mask);
 	refs->write_options.disable_auto_compact =
 		!git_env_bool("GIT_TEST_REFTABLE_AUTOCOMPACTION", 1);
 	refs->write_options.lock_timeout_ms = 100;
 	refs->write_options.fsync = reftable_be_fsync;
 
-	repo_config(the_repository, reftable_be_config, &refs->write_options);
+	repo_config(repo, reftable_be_config, &refs->write_options);
 
 	/*
 	 * It is somewhat unfortunate that we have to mirror the default block
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ static int reftable_be_create_on_disk(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/reftable", refs->base.gitdir);
-	safe_create_dir(the_repository, sb.buf, 1);
+	safe_create_dir(ref_store->repo, sb.buf, 1);
 	strbuf_reset(&sb);
 
 	strbuf_release(&sb);