diff --git a/rust/file_utils/src/safe_file_creator.rs b/rust/file_utils/src/safe_file_creator.rs
index 75cf2b2c..eddce1a5 100644
--- a/rust/file_utils/src/safe_file_creator.rs
+++ b/rust/file_utils/src/safe_file_creator.rs
@@ -70,16 +70,6 @@ impl SafeFileCreator {
         if let Some(metadata) = self.original_metadata.as_ref() {
             set_file_metadata(&self.dest_path, metadata, false)?;
         }
-        let original_permissions = if self.dest_path.exists() {
-            Some(fs::metadata(&self.dest_path)?.permissions())
-        } else {
-            None
-        };
-
-        // Set the original file's permissions to the new file if they exist
-        if let Some(permissions) = original_permissions {
-            fs::set_permissions(&self.dest_path, permissions.clone())?;
-        }
 
         Ok(())
     }
@@ -140,11 +130,6 @@ mod tests {
             .read_to_string(&mut contents)
             .unwrap();
         assert_eq!(contents.trim(), "Hello, world!");
-
-        // Verify file permissions
-        let metadata = fs::metadata(&dest_path).unwrap();
-        let permissions = metadata.permissions();
-        assert_eq!(permissions.mode() & 0o777, 0o644); // Assuming default creation mode
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/rust/gitxetcore/Cargo.toml b/rust/gitxetcore/Cargo.toml
index 96869423..5f215ea7 100644
--- a/rust/gitxetcore/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/gitxetcore/Cargo.toml
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ nfsserve = "0.10"
 atty = "0.2"
 libc = "0.2"
 itertools = "0.10.5"
-shellish_parse = "2.2"
+snailquote = "0.3.1"
 ring = "0.16.20"
 humantime = "2.1.0"
 toml = "0.5"
diff --git a/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_file_tools.rs b/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_file_tools.rs
index f2d124fb..d319d168 100644
--- a/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_file_tools.rs
+++ b/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_file_tools.rs
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ pub fn decode_git_string(s_in: &str) -> String {
         return s_in.to_owned();
     }
 
-    // Are there any actually unicode characters here?
+    // Are there any actually unicode charcters here?
     let mut i = match s_in.find('\\') {
         Some(idx) => idx,
         None => {
@@ -289,24 +289,14 @@ pub fn decode_git_string(s_in: &str) -> String {
     };
 
     // this unescapes all the rest of the \t, \\, etc.
-    if s_utf8.len() <= 1 {
-        s_utf8.to_owned()
-    } else {
-        match shellish_parse::parse(&s_utf8[1..], false) {
-            Ok(s) => {
-                if !s.is_empty() {
-                    s[0].clone()
-                } else {
-                    s_utf8.to_owned()
-                }
-            }
-            Err(e) => {
-                warn!(
-                    "Error interpreting raw git string {} from git: {:?}.",
-                    &s_utf8, e
-                );
-                s_utf8.to_owned()
-            }
+    match snailquote::unescape(s_utf8) {
+        Ok(s) => s,
+        Err(e) => {
+            warn!(
+                "Error interpreting raw git string {} from git: {:?}.",
+                &s_utf8, e
+            );
+            s_utf8.to_owned()
         }
     }
 }
@@ -462,20 +452,4 @@ mod git_file_tools_tests {
         assert_eq!(out_list(None, false)?, files);
         Ok(())
     }
-
-    #[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread")]
-    async fn test_decode_git_string() -> Result<()> {
-        // let strange_file_name = r#""\303\273n\303\255c\303\265d\303\251"#;
-        let strange_file_name = r#""another\tstrange\tfile.dat"#;
-        assert_eq!(
-            decode_git_string(strange_file_name),
-            String::from("another\tstrange\tfile.dat")
-        );
-        let strange_file_name = r#""\\backslash\\\\"#;
-        assert_eq!(
-            decode_git_string(strange_file_name),
-            String::from("\\backslash\\\\")
-        );
-        Ok(())
-    }
 }
diff --git a/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_xet_repo.rs b/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_xet_repo.rs
index 4a4f132e..6569193c 100644
--- a/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_xet_repo.rs
+++ b/rust/gitxetcore/src/git_integration/git_xet_repo.rs
@@ -126,13 +126,19 @@ impl GitXetRepo {
             .map(|(_name, url)| url)
             .collect())
     }
+    pub fn open(config: XetConfig) -> Result<Self> {
+        let repo_path = config.repo_path()?.clone();
+        Self::open_at(config, repo_path)
+    }
 
     /// Open the repository, assuming that the current directory is itself in the repository.
     ///
     /// If we are running in a way that is not associated with a repo, then the XetConfig path
     /// will not show we are in a repo.
-    pub fn open(config: XetConfig) -> Result<Self> {
-        let repo = open_libgit2_repo(config.repo_path()?)?;
+    pub fn open_at(mut config: XetConfig, repo_path: PathBuf) -> Result<Self> {
+        let repo = open_libgit2_repo(&repo_path)?;
+        config.repo_path_if_present = Some(repo_path);
+        let config = config;
 
         let git_dir = repo.path().to_path_buf();
         let repo_dir = repo_dir_from_repo(&repo);