diff --git a/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.go/dot.go b/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.go/dot.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bb51d69f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.go/dot.go
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+// Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package dot
+
+// nothing to see here
diff --git a/internal/gps/_testdata/src/disallow/.m1p/a.go b/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.m1p/a.go
similarity index 86%
rename from internal/gps/_testdata/src/disallow/.m1p/a.go
rename to internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.m1p/a.go
index 6a88c12022..a5fc8c2e57 100644
--- a/internal/gps/_testdata/src/disallow/.m1p/a.go
+++ b/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.m1p/a.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ package m1p
 import (
 	"sort"
 
-	"github.com/golang/dep/gps"
+	"github.com/golang/dep/internal/gps"
 )
 
 var (
diff --git a/internal/gps/_testdata/src/disallow/.m1p/b.go b/internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.m1p/b.go
similarity index 100%
rename from internal/gps/_testdata/src/disallow/.m1p/b.go
rename to internal/gps/_testdata/src/dotgodir/.m1p/b.go
diff --git a/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree.go b/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree.go
index a6b452764d..271329059d 100644
--- a/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree.go
+++ b/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree.go
@@ -28,6 +28,15 @@ type Package struct {
 	TestImports []string // Imports from all go test files (in go/build parlance: both TestImports and XTestImports)
 }
 
+// vcsRoots is a set of directories we should not descend into in ListPackages when
+// searching for Go packages
+var vcsRoots = map[string]struct{}{
+	".git": struct{}{},
+	".bzr": struct{}{},
+	".svn": struct{}{},
+	".hg":  struct{}{},
+}
+
 // ListPackages reports Go package information about all directories in the tree
 // at or below the provided fileRoot.
 //
@@ -78,10 +87,13 @@ func ListPackages(fileRoot, importRoot string) (PackageTree, error) {
 		case "vendor", "Godeps":
 			return filepath.SkipDir
 		}
-		// We do skip dot-dirs, though, because it's such a ubiquitous standard
-		// that they not be visited by normal commands, and because things get
-		// really weird if we don't.
-		if strings.HasPrefix(fi.Name(), ".") {
+
+		// Skip dirs that are known to be VCS roots.
+		//
+		// Note that there are some pathological edge cases this doesn't cover,
+		// such as a user using Git for version control, but having a package
+		// named "svn" in a directory named ".svn".
+		if _, ok := vcsRoots[fi.Name()]; ok {
 			return filepath.SkipDir
 		}
 
diff --git a/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree_test.go b/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree_test.go
index 092782c0d8..f042c2e312 100644
--- a/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree_test.go
+++ b/internal/gps/pkgtree/pkgtree_test.go
@@ -1073,20 +1073,6 @@ func TestListPackages(t *testing.T) {
 							},
 						},
 					},
-					// disallow/.m1p is ignored by listPackages...for now. Kept
-					// here commented because this might change again...
-					//"disallow/.m1p": {
-					//P: Package{
-					//ImportPath:  "disallow/.m1p",
-					//CommentPath: "",
-					//Name:        "m1p",
-					//Imports: []string{
-					//"github.com/golang/dep/internal/gps",
-					//"os",
-					//"sort",
-					//},
-					//},
-					//},
 					"disallow/testdata": {
 						P: Package{
 							ImportPath:  "disallow/testdata",
@@ -1280,7 +1266,7 @@ func TestListPackages(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
-		"skip directories starting with '.'": {
+		"does not skip directories starting with '.'": {
 			fileRoot:   j("dotgodir"),
 			importRoot: "dotgodir",
 			out: PackageTree{
@@ -1292,6 +1278,13 @@ func TestListPackages(t *testing.T) {
 							Imports:    []string{},
 						},
 					},
+					"dotgodir/.go": {
+						P: Package{
+							ImportPath: "dotgodir/.go",
+							Name:       "dot",
+							Imports:    []string{},
+						},
+					},
 					"dotgodir/foo.go": {
 						P: Package{
 							ImportPath: "dotgodir/foo.go",
@@ -1299,6 +1292,18 @@ func TestListPackages(t *testing.T) {
 							Imports:    []string{"sort"},
 						},
 					},
+					"dotgodir/.m1p": {
+						P: Package{
+							ImportPath:  "dotgodir/.m1p",
+							CommentPath: "",
+							Name:        "m1p",
+							Imports: []string{
+								"github.com/golang/dep/internal/gps",
+								"os",
+								"sort",
+							},
+						},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 		},