diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils.py b/lib/ansible/utils.py
index 4a9c046248..5c6b4eba94 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils.py
@@ -323,13 +323,19 @@ def _gitinfo():
     ''' returns a string containing git branch, commit id and commit date '''
     result = None
     repo_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..', '.git')
+    ''' Check if the .git is a file. If it is a file, it means that we are in a submodule structure. '''
     if os.path.exists(repo_path):
         ''' Check if the .git is a file. If it is a file, it means that we are in a submodule structure. '''
         if os.path.isfile(repo_path):
-            repo_path = repo_path.split('.git')[0]
-            central_gitdir = yaml.load(open(repo_path))['gitdir'].split('.git')[0]
-            ''' There is a posibility the .git file to have an absolute path. '''
-            repo_path = os.path.join(repo_path, os.path.relpath(central_gitdir), '.git')
+            try:
+                central_gitdir = yaml.load(open(repo_path)).get('gitdir').split('.git')[0]
+                repo_path = repo_path.split('.git')[0]
+                ''' There is a posibility the .git file to have an absolute path. '''
+                repo_path = os.path.join(repo_path, os.path.relpath(central_gitdir), '.git')
+            except IOError:
+                exit("Could not load .git file.") 
+            except AttributeError:
+                exit("There is no gitdir attribute in .git file.")
         f = open(os.path.join(repo_path, "HEAD"))
         branch = f.readline().split('/')[-1].rstrip("\n")
         f.close()