"setup as shared repository"),
        OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "recursive", &option_recursive,
                    "initialize submodules in the clone"),
-       OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "recurse_submodules", &option_recursive,
+       OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "recurse-submodules", &option_recursive,
                    "initialize submodules in the clone"),
-       OPT_STRING(0, "template", &option_template, "path",
-                  "path the template repository"),
+       OPT_STRING(0, "template", &option_template, "template-directory",
+                  "directory from which templates will be used"),
        OPT_STRING(0, "reference", &option_reference, "repo",
                   "reference repository"),
        OPT_STRING('o', "origin", &option_origin, "branch",
        if (path)
                repo = xstrdup(make_nonrelative_path(repo_name));
        else if (!strchr(repo_name, ':'))
-               repo = xstrdup(make_absolute_path(repo_name));
+               die("repository '%s' does not exist", repo_name);
        else
                repo = repo_name;
        is_local = path && !is_bundle;