Here is what I got from "git am --whitespace=fix" on these five patches.
Does it match your test application?
Applying: refs.h: clarify reflog iteration order
Applying: create .git/refs in files-backend.c
Applying: refs: document how ref_iterator_advance_fn should handle symrefs
.git/rebase-apply/patch:145: trailing whitespace.
.git/rebase-apply/patch:147: trailing whitespace.
.git/rebase-apply/patch:6544: indent with spaces.
left = *destLen;
.git/rebase-apply/patch:6545: indent with spaces.
*destLen = 0;
.git/rebase-apply/patch:6548: indent with spaces.
left = 1;
warning: squelched 15 whitespace errors
warning: 20 lines applied after fixing whitespace errors.
Applying: Add reftable library
Applying: Reftable support for git-core
