diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/settings.rb b/Library/Homebrew/settings.rb
index ea583d2c19..8a58e94199 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/settings.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/settings.rb
@@ -17,28 +17,27 @@ module Homebrew
     def read(setting, repo: HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY)
       return unless (repo/".git/config").exist?
 
-      repo.cd do
-        Utils.popen_read("git", "config", "--get", "homebrew.#{setting}").chomp.presence
-      end
+      system_command("git", args: ["config", "--get", "homebrew.#{setting}"], chdir: repo).stdout.chomp.presence
     end
 
     sig { params(setting: T.any(String, Symbol), value: T.any(String, T::Boolean), repo: Pathname).void }
     def write(setting, value, repo: HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY)
       return unless (repo/".git/config").exist?
 
-      repo.cd do
-        system_command! "git", args: ["config", "--replace-all", "homebrew.#{setting}", value.to_s]
-      end
+      value = value.to_s
+
+      return if read(setting, repo: repo) == value
+
+      system_command! "git", args: ["config", "--replace-all", "homebrew.#{setting}", value], chdir: repo
     end
 
     sig { params(setting: T.any(String, Symbol), repo: Pathname).void }
     def delete(setting, repo: HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY)
       return unless (repo/".git/config").exist?
+
       return if read(setting, repo: repo).blank?
 
-      repo.cd do
-        system_command! "git", args: ["config", "--unset-all", "homebrew.#{setting}"]
-      end
+      system_command! "git", args: ["config", "--unset-all", "homebrew.#{setting}"], chdir: repo
     end
   end
 end