diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/release-notes.rb b/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/release-notes.rb
index 892a4a83e1..a930aad23f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/release-notes.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/dev-cmd/release-notes.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #:  * `release-notes` [`--markdown`] [<previous_tag>] [<end_ref>]:
 #:    Output the merged pull requests on Homebrew/brew between two Git refs.
-#:    If no <previous_tag> is provided it defaults to the newest tag.
+#:    If no <previous_tag> is provided it defaults to the latest tag.
 #:    If no <end_ref> is provided it defaults to `origin/master`.
 #:
 #:    If `--markdown` is passed, output as a Markdown list.
@@ -16,19 +16,21 @@ module Homebrew
     end
 
     previous_tag = ARGV.named.first
-    previous_tag ||= Utils.popen_read("git tag --list --sort=-version:refname")
-                          .lines.first.chomp
+    previous_tag ||= Utils.popen_read(
+      "git", "-C", HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY, "tag", "--list", "--sort=-version:refname"
+    ).lines.first.chomp
     odie "Could not find any previous tags!" unless previous_tag
 
     end_ref = ARGV.named[1] || "origin/master"
 
     [previous_tag, end_ref].each do |ref|
-      next if quiet_system "git", "rev-parse", "--verify", "--quiet", ref
+      next if quiet_system "git", "-C", HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY, "rev-parse", "--verify", "--quiet", ref
       odie "Ref #{ref} does not exist!"
     end
 
-    output = Utils.popen_read("git log --pretty=format:'%s >> - %b%n' '#{previous_tag}'..'#{end_ref}'")
-                  .lines.grep(/Merge pull request/)
+    output = Utils.popen_read(
+      "git", "-C", HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY, "log", "--pretty=format:'%s >> - %b%n'", "#{previous_tag}..#{end_ref}"
+    ).lines.grep(/Merge pull request/)
 
     output.map! do |s|
       s.gsub(%r{.*Merge pull request #(\d+) from ([^/]+)/[^>]*(>>)*},