diff --git a/Documentation/callouts.xsl b/Documentation/callouts.xsl
index ad03755d8f..6a361a2136 100644
--- a/Documentation/callouts.xsl
+++ b/Documentation/callouts.xsl
@@ -13,4 +13,18 @@
 	<xsl:apply-templates/>
 	<xsl:text>.br&#10;</xsl:text>
 </xsl:template>
+
+<!-- sorry, this is not about callouts, but attempts to work around
+ spurious .sp at the tail of the line docbook stylesheets seem to add -->
+<xsl:template match="simpara">
+  <xsl:variable name="content">
+    <xsl:apply-templates/>
+  </xsl:variable>
+  <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space($content)"/>
+  <xsl:if test="not(ancestor::authorblurb) and
+                not(ancestor::personblurb)">
+    <xsl:text>&#10;&#10;</xsl:text>
+  </xsl:if>
+</xsl:template>
+
 </xsl:stylesheet>
diff --git a/builtin-blame.c b/builtin-blame.c
index dc3ffeaff8..a250724463 100644
--- a/builtin-blame.c
+++ b/builtin-blame.c
@@ -1090,6 +1090,11 @@ static void assign_blame(struct scoreboard *sb, struct rev_info *revs, int opt)
 		if (!(commit->object.flags & UNINTERESTING) &&
 		    !(revs->max_age != -1 && commit->date  < revs->max_age))
 			pass_blame(sb, suspect, opt);
+		else {
+			commit->object.flags |= UNINTERESTING;
+			if (commit->object.parsed)
+				mark_parents_uninteresting(commit);
+		}
 
 		/* Take responsibility for the remaining entries */
 		for (ent = sb->ent; ent; ent = ent->next)
@@ -1273,6 +1278,8 @@ static void emit_porcelain(struct scoreboard *sb, struct blame_entry *ent)
 		printf("committer-tz %s\n", ci.committer_tz);
 		printf("filename %s\n", suspect->path);
 		printf("summary %s\n", ci.summary);
+		if (suspect->commit->object.flags & UNINTERESTING)
+			printf("boundary\n");
 	}
 	else if (suspect->commit->object.flags & MORE_THAN_ONE_PATH)
 		printf("filename %s\n", suspect->path);
@@ -1308,8 +1315,14 @@ static void emit_other(struct scoreboard *sb, struct blame_entry *ent, int opt)
 	cp = nth_line(sb, ent->lno);
 	for (cnt = 0; cnt < ent->num_lines; cnt++) {
 		char ch;
+		int length = (opt & OUTPUT_LONG_OBJECT_NAME) ? 40 : 8;
 
-		printf("%.*s", (opt & OUTPUT_LONG_OBJECT_NAME) ? 40 : 8, hex);
+		if (suspect->commit->object.flags & UNINTERESTING) {
+			length--;
+			putchar('^');
+		}
+
+		printf("%.*s", length, hex);
 		if (opt & OUTPUT_ANNOTATE_COMPAT)
 			printf("\t(%10s\t%10s\t%d)", ci.author,
 			       format_time(ci.author_time, ci.author_tz,
diff --git a/builtin-branch.c b/builtin-branch.c
index dd6d184c43..560309cb15 100644
--- a/builtin-branch.c
+++ b/builtin-branch.c
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ static char branch_colors[][COLOR_MAXLEN] = {
 	"\033[m",	/* reset */
 	"",		/* PLAIN (normal) */
 	"\033[31m",	/* REMOTE (red) */
-	"\033[32m",	/* LOCAL (green) */
-	"\033[1;32m",	/* CURRENT (boldgreen) */
+	"",		/* LOCAL (normal) */
+	"\033[32m",	/* CURRENT (green) */
 };
 enum color_branch {
 	COLOR_BRANCH_RESET = 0,
diff --git a/builtin-push.c b/builtin-push.c
index d23974e708..b7412e8293 100644
--- a/builtin-push.c
+++ b/builtin-push.c
@@ -57,11 +57,36 @@ static void expand_refspecs(void)
 static void set_refspecs(const char **refs, int nr)
 {
 	if (nr) {
-		size_t bytes = nr * sizeof(char *);
-
-		refspec = xrealloc(refspec, bytes);
-		memcpy(refspec, refs, bytes);
-		refspec_nr = nr;
+		int pass;
+		for (pass = 0; pass < 2; pass++) {
+			/* pass 0 counts and allocates, pass 1 fills */
+			int i, cnt;
+			for (i = cnt = 0; i < nr; i++) {
+				if (!strcmp("tag", refs[i])) {
+					int len;
+					char *tag;
+					if (nr <= ++i)
+						die("tag <tag> shorthand without <tag>");
+					if (pass) {
+						len = strlen(refs[i]) + 11;
+						tag = xmalloc(len);
+						strcpy(tag, "refs/tags/");
+						strcat(tag, refs[i]);
+						refspec[cnt] = tag;
+					}
+					cnt++;
+					continue;
+				}
+				if (pass)
+					refspec[cnt] = refs[i];
+				cnt++;
+			}
+			if (!pass) {
+				size_t bytes = cnt * sizeof(char *);
+				refspec_nr = cnt;
+				refspec = xrealloc(refspec, bytes);
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	expand_refspecs();
 }
diff --git a/git-merge.sh b/git-merge.sh
index 1e4ab2fd82..1f01a08e4e 100755
--- a/git-merge.sh
+++ b/git-merge.sh
@@ -445,7 +445,14 @@ fi
 case "$best_strategy" in
 '')
 	restorestate
-	echo >&2 "No merge strategy handled the merge."
+	case "$use_strategies" in
+	?*' '?*)
+		echo >&2 "No merge strategy handled the merge."
+		;;
+	*)
+		echo >&2 "Merge with strategy $use_strategies failed."
+		;;
+	esac
 	exit 2
 	;;
 "$wt_strategy")
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index 58f2cb4ed3..6dd6e2e5af 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -879,7 +879,7 @@ static int process_renames(struct path_list *a_renames,
 			struct diff_filespec src_other, dst_other;
 			int try_merge, stage = a_renames == renames1 ? 3: 2;
 
-			remove_file(1, ren1_src, 1);
+			remove_file(1, ren1_src, index_only);
 
 			hashcpy(src_other.sha1, ren1->src_entry->stages[stage].sha);
 			src_other.mode = ren1->src_entry->stages[stage].mode;
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 2ac8273ea4..a02957c399 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ int check_ref_format(const char *ref)
 		level++;
 		if (!ch) {
 			if (level < 2)
-				return -1; /* at least of form "heads/blah" */
+				return -2; /* at least of form "heads/blah" */
 			return 0;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/send-pack.c b/send-pack.c
index 328dbbc16a..cc884f3b2d 100644
--- a/send-pack.c
+++ b/send-pack.c
@@ -406,6 +406,25 @@ static int send_pack(int in, int out, int nr_refspec, char **refspec)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+static void verify_remote_names(int nr_heads, char **heads)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < nr_heads; i++) {
+		const char *remote = strchr(heads[i], ':');
+
+		remote = remote ? (remote + 1) : heads[i];
+		switch (check_ref_format(remote)) {
+		case 0: /* ok */
+		case -2: /* ok but a single level -- that is fine for
+			  * a match pattern.
+			  */
+			continue;
+		}
+		die("remote part of refspec is not a valid name in %s",
+		    heads[i]);
+	}
+}
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
@@ -457,6 +476,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		usage(send_pack_usage);
 	if (heads && send_all)
 		usage(send_pack_usage);
+	verify_remote_names(nr_heads, heads);
+
 	pid = git_connect(fd, dest, exec);
 	if (pid < 0)
 		return 1;
diff --git a/t/t6023-merge-rename-nocruft.sh b/t/t6023-merge-rename-nocruft.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..69c66cf6fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t6023-merge-rename-nocruft.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='Merge-recursive merging renames'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success setup \
+'
+cat >A <<\EOF &&
+a aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
+b bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
+c cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
+d dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
+e eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
+f ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
+g gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
+h hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
+i iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
+j jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
+k kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
+l llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
+m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
+n nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
+o oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
+EOF
+
+cat >M <<\EOF &&
+A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
+B BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
+C CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
+D DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
+E EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
+F FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
+G GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
+H HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
+I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
+J JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
+K KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
+L LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
+M MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
+N NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
+O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
+EOF
+
+git add A M &&
+git commit -m "initial has A and M" &&
+git branch white &&
+git branch red &&
+
+git checkout white &&
+sed -e "/^g /s/.*/g : white changes a line/" <A >B &&
+sed -e "/^G /s/.*/G : colored branch changes a line/" <M >N &&
+rm -f A M &&
+git update-index --add --remove A B M N &&
+git commit -m "white renames A->B, M->N" &&
+
+git checkout red &&
+echo created by red >R &&
+git update-index --add R &&
+git commit -m "red creates R" &&
+
+git checkout master'
+
+# This test broke in 65ac6e9c3f47807cb603af07a6a9e1a43bc119ae
+test_expect_success 'merge white into red (A->B,M->N)' \
+'
+	git checkout -b red-white red &&
+	git merge white &&
+	git write-tree >/dev/null || {
+		echo "BAD: merge did not complete"
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	test -f B || {
+		echo "BAD: B does not exist in working directory"
+		return 1
+	}
+	test -f N || {
+		echo "BAD: N does not exist in working directory"
+		return 1
+	}
+	test -f R || {
+		echo "BAD: R does not exist in working directory"
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	test -f A && {
+		echo "BAD: A still exists in working directory"
+		return 1
+	}
+	test -f M && {
+		echo "BAD: M still exists in working directory"
+		return 1
+	}
+	return 0
+'
+
+test_done