diff --git a/distiller/apputils/execution_env.py b/distiller/apputils/execution_env.py
index a7745527f1fa1eb7f2687e49aba668d73c89271b..e32865061276b5ba411b8aebef7860d8e1c0695f 100755
--- a/distiller/apputils/execution_env.py
+++ b/distiller/apputils/execution_env.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ except ImportError:
 logger = logging.getLogger("app_cfg")
 
 
-def log_execution_env_state(config_paths=None, logdir=None, gitroot='.'):
+def log_execution_env_state(config_paths=None, logdir=None):
     """Log information about the execution environment.
 
     Files in 'config_paths' will be copied to directory 'logdir'. A common use-case
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def log_execution_env_state(config_paths=None, logdir=None, gitroot='.'):
         It is useful to know what git tag we're using, and if we have outstanding code.
         """
         try:
-            repo = Repo(gitroot)
+            repo = Repo(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
             assert not repo.bare
         except InvalidGitRepositoryError:
             logger.debug("Cannot find a Git repository.  You probably downloaded an archive of Distiller.")
diff --git a/distiller/apputils/image_classifier.py b/distiller/apputils/image_classifier.py
index 23c07a46d50c47ab28a7ec576b00cbb38e7b3cd5..f3be179f1e953b263ef9442b8f906813d013a699 100755
--- a/distiller/apputils/image_classifier.py
+++ b/distiller/apputils/image_classifier.py
@@ -293,10 +293,9 @@ def init_classifier_compression_arg_parser():
 
 def _init_logger(args, script_dir):
     global msglogger
-    if not script_dir or not hasattr(args, "output_dir") or not args.output_dir:
+    if script_dir is None or not hasattr(args, "output_dir") or args.output_dir is None:
         msglogger.logdir = None
         return None
-    module_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(script_dir, '..', '..'))
     if not os.path.exists(args.output_dir):
         os.makedirs(args.output_dir)
     msglogger = apputils.config_pylogger(os.path.join(script_dir, 'logging.conf'),
@@ -306,7 +305,7 @@ def _init_logger(args, script_dir):
     # to refer to past experiment executions and this information may be useful.
     apputils.log_execution_env_state(
         filter(None, [args.compress, args.qe_stats_file]),  # remove both None and empty strings
-        msglogger.logdir, gitroot=module_path)
+        msglogger.logdir)
     msglogger.debug("Distiller: %s", distiller.__version__)
     return msglogger.logdir
 
diff --git a/examples/ncf/ncf.py b/examples/ncf/ncf.py
index 98376ca825ae800cbfbc8aeae08df176b765d174..3efa764e62a6534a4334ff56728da96554c0ba9d 100644
--- a/examples/ncf/ncf.py
+++ b/examples/ncf/ncf.py
@@ -188,7 +188,6 @@ def main():
     global msglogger
 
     script_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    module_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(script_dir, '..', '..'))
 
     args = parse_args()
 
@@ -206,7 +205,7 @@ def main():
     args.qe_mode = str(args.qe_mode).split('.')[1]
     args.qe_clip_acts = str(args.qe_clip_acts).split('.')[1]
 
-    apputils.log_execution_env_state(sys.argv, gitroot=module_path)
+    apputils.log_execution_env_state(sys.argv)
 
     if args.gpus is not None:
         try: