diff --git a/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-darwin-x86_64 b/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-darwin-x86_64
index 9fa985f2..694695bc 100755
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diff --git a/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-freebsd-amd64 b/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-freebsd-amd64
index fc588c23..b89a0c8c 100755
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diff --git a/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-linux-armv7l b/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-linux-armv7l
index 9ea3dc08..06152472 100755
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diff --git a/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-linux-x86_64 b/gitstatus/bin/gitstatusd-linux-x86_64
index 6fd9c452..a2604da4 100755
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diff --git a/gitstatus/gitstatus.plugin.zsh b/gitstatus/gitstatus.plugin.zsh
index aa95e408..7ff1a43b 100644
--- a/gitstatus/gitstatus.plugin.zsh
+++ b/gitstatus/gitstatus.plugin.zsh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 # Retrives status of a git repo from a directory under its working tree.
 #
-#   -d STR    Directory to query. Defaults to $PWD. Must be absolute.
+#   -d STR    Directory to query. Defaults to ${${GIT_DIR:-$PWD}:a}. Must be absolute.
 #   -c STR    Callback function to call once the results are available. Called only after
 #             gitstatus_query returns 0 with VCS_STATUS_RESULT=tout.
 #   -t FLOAT  Timeout in seconds. Will block for at most this long. If no results are
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function gitstatus_query() {
   setopt err_return no_unset
 
   local opt
-  local dir=$PWD
+  local dir=${${GIT_DIR:-$PWD}:a}
   local callback=''
   local -F timeout=-1
   while true; do
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ function gitstatus_start() {
     local -i threads=${GITSTATUS_NUM_THREADS:-0}
     (( threads > 0)) || {
       case $os in
-        FreeBSD) threads=$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu);;
-        *) threads=$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN);;
+        FreeBSD) threads=$(( 2 * $(sysctl -n hw.ncpu) ));;
+        *) threads=$(( 2 * $(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN) ));;
       esac
     }