diff --git a/builtin/column.c b/builtin/column.c
index 0c3223d64b..5228ccf37a 100644
--- a/builtin/column.c
+++ b/builtin/column.c
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ int cmd_column(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		git_config(column_config, NULL);
 
 	memset(&copts, 0, sizeof(copts));
-	copts.width = term_columns();
 	copts.padding = 1;
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, "", options, builtin_column_usage, 0);
 	if (argc)
diff --git a/pager.c b/pager.c
index 92b23e6cd1..226828f178 100644
--- a/pager.c
+++ b/pager.c
@@ -109,10 +109,15 @@ void setup_pager(void)
 		return;
 
 	/*
-	 * force computing the width of the terminal before we redirect
-	 * the standard output to the pager.
+	 * After we redirect standard output, we won't be able to use an ioctl
+	 * to get the terminal size. Let's grab it now, and then set $COLUMNS
+	 * to communicate it to any sub-processes.
 	 */
-	(void) term_columns();
+	{
+		char buf[64];
+		xsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d", term_columns());
+		setenv("COLUMNS", buf, 0);
+	}
 
 	setenv("GIT_PAGER_IN_USE", "true", 1);
 
diff --git a/t/t7004-tag.sh b/t/t7004-tag.sh
index e3f1e014aa..d7b319e919 100755
--- a/t/t7004-tag.sh
+++ b/t/t7004-tag.sh
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ test_expect_success 'tag -l <pattern> -l <pattern> works, as our buggy documenta
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'listing tags in column' '
-	COLUMNS=40 git tag -l --column=row >actual &&
+	COLUMNS=41 git tag -l --column=row >actual &&
 	cat >expected <<\EOF &&
 a1      aa1     cba     t210    t211
 v0.2.1  v1.0    v1.0.1  v1.1.3