Strange problem with git repo?

Question

I just upgraded to OSX Lion on my Mac and I aquired a strange problem with a git repo. I have my .vim files under version control with a number of plugins configured as git submodules. After upgrading, I ran a git status command into my .vim directory and got the following:

fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed
fatal: git status --porcelain failed

Does anyone know what my problem is? I searched the above error message on Google and SO, but I didn't find any answers. I've also noticed that git seems to be very slow now. Also, I have no other problems in other git repos (expect the slowness problem), which makes me think the problem is not related to Lion. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can fix my .vim repo? Thanks in advance for the help.

Here is some of the trace output requested by drizzd:

setup: worktree: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/supertab  
setup: cwd: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/supertab  
setup: prefix: (null)  
trace: built-in: git 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: run_command: 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: exec: 'git' 'status' '--porcelain'  
setup: git_dir: .git  
setup: worktree: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/surround  
setup: cwd: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/surround  
setup: prefix: (null)  
trace: built-in: git 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: run_command: 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: exec: 'git' 'status' '--porcelain'  
setup: git_dir: .git  
setup: worktree: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/tasklist  
setup: cwd: /Users/sbrown/.vim/bundle/tasklist  
setup: prefix: (null)  
trace: built-in: git 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: run_command: 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: exec: 'git' 'status' '--porcelain'  
setup: git_dir: .git  
setup: worktree: /Users/sbrown/.vim  
setup: cwd: /Users/sbrown/.vim  
setup: prefix: bundle/vim-colors-solarized/  
trace: built-in: git 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: run_command: 'status' '--porcelain'  
trace: exec: 'git' 'status' '--porcelain'  

Answer 1

For future reference, the only way I could correct the problem was to remove all submodules and then reinstall them.

Answer 2

In case it helps anyone else, I just encountered the same issue and found that running git init in the project root fixed it.