diff --git a/core/git-access.c b/core/git-access.c
index bd958b517..31ab9f1d8 100644
--- a/core/git-access.c
+++ b/core/git-access.c
@@ -130,11 +130,22 @@ static int push_transfer_progress_cb(unsigned int current, unsigned int total, s
 	return git_storage_update_progress(buf);
 }
 
-char *get_local_dir(const char *remote, const char *branch)
+char *get_local_dir(const char *remote_in, const char *branch)
 {
 	SHA_CTX ctx;
 	unsigned char hash[20];
 
+	// this optimization could in theory lead to odd things happening if the
+	// cloud backend servers ever get out of sync - but when a user switches
+	// between those servers (either because one is down, or because the algorithm
+	// which server to pick changed, or because the user is on a different continent),
+	// then the hash and therefore the local directory would change. To prevent that
+	// from happening, normalize the cloud string to always use the old default name.
+	// That's trivial with QString operations and painful to do right in plain C, so
+	// let's be lazy and call a C++ helper function
+	// just remember to free the string we get back
+	const char *remote = normalize_cloud_name(remote_in);
+
 	// That zero-byte update is so that we don't get hash
 	// collisions for "repo1 branch" vs "repo 1branch".
 	SHA1_Init(&ctx);
@@ -142,7 +153,7 @@ char *get_local_dir(const char *remote, const char *branch)
 	SHA1_Update(&ctx, "", 1);
 	SHA1_Update(&ctx, branch, strlen(branch));
 	SHA1_Final(hash, &ctx);
-
+	free((void *)remote);
 	return format_string("%s/cloudstorage/%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x",
 			system_default_directory(),
 			hash[0], hash[1], hash[2], hash[3],
diff --git a/core/qthelper.cpp b/core/qthelper.cpp
index 6678cc87f..185e46bbc 100644
--- a/core/qthelper.cpp
+++ b/core/qthelper.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "trip.h"
 #include "imagedownloader.h"
 #include "xmlparams.h"
+#include "core/git-access.h" // for CLOUD_HOST definitions
 #include <QFile>
 #include <QRegExp>
 #include <QDir>
@@ -1455,6 +1456,15 @@ extern "C" char *cloud_url()
 	return copy_qstring(filename);
 }
 
+extern "C" const char *normalize_cloud_name(const char *remote_in)
+{
+	// replace ssrf-cloud-XX.subsurface... names with cloud.subsurface... names
+	// that trailing '/' is to match old code
+	QString ri(remote_in);
+	ri.replace(QRegularExpression(CLOUD_HOST_PATTERN), CLOUD_HOST_GENERIC "/");
+	return strdup(ri.toUtf8().constData());
+}
+
 extern "C" bool getProxyString(char **buffer)
 {
 	if (prefs.proxy_type == QNetworkProxy::HttpProxy) {
diff --git a/core/qthelper.h b/core/qthelper.h
index 135689c69..1fc2e55f3 100644
--- a/core/qthelper.h
+++ b/core/qthelper.h
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ void copy_image_and_overwrite(const char *cfileName, const char *path, const cha
 char *move_away(const char *path);
 const char *local_file_path(struct picture *picture);
 char *cloud_url();
+const char *normalize_cloud_name(const char *remote_in);
 char *hashfile_name_string();
 char *picturedir_string();
 const char *subsurface_user_agent();