I must be missing something obvious: bfields@puzzle:linux-2.6$ git checkout -b TMP nfs-client-stable^^^ bfields@puzzle:linux-2.6$ git-describe v2.6.17-rc6-g28df955 bfields@puzzle:linux-2.6$ git-rebase --onto v2.6.17 origin Nothing to do. bfields@puzzle:linux-2.6$ git-describe v2.6.17 So the git-rebase just reset TMP to v2.6.17. But I know that nfs-client-stable isn't a subset of origin, so this doesn't make sense to me. The tree in question is actually at git://linux-nfs.org/~bfields/linux.git, if it matters. --b. - : send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html