diff --git a/sys/src/cmd/git/fetch.c b/sys/src/cmd/git/fetch.c
index 5951cfaf7..447c71a7c 100644
--- a/sys/src/cmd/git/fetch.c
+++ b/sys/src/cmd/git/fetch.c
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ fetchpack(Conn *c)
 	if(writepkt(c, buf, n) == -1)
 		sysfatal("write: %r");
 	if(!req)
-		return 0;
+		goto showrefs;
 	if(readphase(c) == -1)
 		sysfatal("read: %r");
 	if((n = readpkt(c, buf, sizeof(buf))) == -1)
diff --git a/sys/src/cmd/git/pull b/sys/src/cmd/git/pull
index 189323f97..4b84a9f8a 100755
--- a/sys/src/cmd/git/pull
+++ b/sys/src/cmd/git/pull
@@ -7,13 +7,10 @@ fn update{
 	upstream=$2
 	url=$3
 	dir=$4
-	bflag=()
 	dflag=()
-	if(! ~ $#branch 0)
-		bflag=(-b $branch)
 	if(! ~ $#debug 0)
 		dflag='-d'
-	{git/fetch $dflag $bflag -u $upstream $url >[2=3] || die $status} | awk '
+	{git/fetch $dflag -u $upstream $url >[2=3] || die $status} | awk '
 	/^remote/{
 		if($2=="HEAD")
 			next