diff --git a/include/git2/submodule.h b/include/git2/submodule.h
index 90e45cebd..444b3a967 100644
--- a/include/git2/submodule.h
+++ b/include/git2/submodule.h
@@ -504,6 +504,24 @@ GIT_EXTERN(int) git_submodule_status(
 	unsigned int *status,
 	git_submodule *submodule);
 
+/**
+ * Get the locations of submodule information.
+ *
+ * This is a bit like a very lightweight version of `git_submodule_status`.
+ * It just returns a made of the first four submodule status values (i.e.
+ * the ones like GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_HEAD, etc) that tell you where the
+ * submodule data comes from (i.e. the HEAD commit, gitmodules file, etc.).
+ * This can be useful if you want to know if the submodule is present in the
+ * working directory at this point in time, etc.
+ *
+ * @param status Combination of first four `GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS` flags
+ * @param submodule Submodule for which to get status
+ * @return 0 on success, <0 on error
+ */
+GIT_EXTERN(int) git_submodule_location(
+	unsigned int *location_status,
+	git_submodule *submodule);
+
 /** @} */
 GIT_END_DECL
 #endif
diff --git a/src/submodule.c b/src/submodule.c
index 94b4f724e..9ed6707c7 100644
--- a/src/submodule.c
+++ b/src/submodule.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ __KHASH_IMPL(
 	str, static kh_inline, const char *, void *, 1,
 	str_hash_no_trailing_slash, str_equal_no_trailing_slash);
 
-static int load_submodule_config(git_repository *repo, bool force);
+static int load_submodule_config(git_repository *repo);
 static git_config_backend *open_gitmodules(git_repository *, bool, const git_oid *);
 static int lookup_head_remote(git_buf *url, git_repository *repo);
 static int submodule_get(git_submodule **, git_repository *, const char *, const char *);
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ int git_submodule_lookup(
 
 	assert(repo && name);
 
-	if ((error = load_submodule_config(repo, false)) < 0)
+	if ((error = load_submodule_config(repo)) < 0)
 		return error;
 
 	pos = git_strmap_lookup_index(repo->submodules, name);
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ int git_submodule_foreach(
 
 	assert(repo && callback);
 
-	if ((error = load_submodule_config(repo, false)) < 0)
+	if ((error = load_submodule_config(repo)) < 0)
 		return error;
 
 	git_strmap_foreach_value(repo->submodules, sm, {
@@ -708,7 +708,8 @@ int git_submodule_open(
 int git_submodule_reload_all(git_repository *repo)
 {
 	assert(repo);
-	return load_submodule_config(repo, true);
+	git_submodule_config_free(repo);
+	return load_submodule_config(repo);
 }
 
 int git_submodule_reload(git_submodule *submodule)
@@ -829,6 +830,20 @@ int git_submodule_status(
 	return error;
 }
 
+int git_submodule_location(
+	unsigned int *location_status,
+	git_submodule *submodule)
+{
+	assert(location_status && submodule);
+
+	*location_status = submodule->flags &
+		(GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_HEAD | GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_INDEX |
+		 GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_CONFIG | GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_WD);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+
 /*
  * INTERNAL FUNCTIONS
  */
@@ -1225,14 +1240,14 @@ static git_config_backend *open_gitmodules(
 	return mods;
 }
 
-static int load_submodule_config(git_repository *repo, bool force)
+static int load_submodule_config(git_repository *repo)
 {
 	int error;
 	git_oid gitmodules_oid;
 	git_buf path = GIT_BUF_INIT;
 	git_config_backend *mods = NULL;
 
-	if (repo->submodules && !force)
+	if (repo->submodules)
 		return 0;
 
 	memset(&gitmodules_oid, 0, sizeof(gitmodules_oid));