Heinrich Schuchardt [off-list ref] wrote:

Yes, git HEAD + said patch works with this command:
git -c http.followRedirects=true clone http://git.denx.de/u-boot-efi.git

http.followRedirects is documented in man 1 git-config.

Why would git prior to  17966c0a63d25b1cc2dd1e98d30873e643bd581f~1 work
without this redirect parameter?

That following redirects is not secure is already described in
https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/RelNotes/2.12.3.txt

17966c0a63d25b1cc2dd1e98d30873e643bd581f predates the
requirement to enable http.followRedirects for http-alternates:
cb4d2d35c4622ec2513c1c352d30ff8f9f9cdb9e
("http: treat http-alternates like redirects")