return lookup_tree(shifted);
 }
 
-/*
- * A virtual commit has (const char *)commit->util set to the name.
- */
-
 static struct commit *make_virtual_commit(struct tree *tree, const char *comment)
 {
        struct commit *commit = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct commit));
+       struct merge_remote_desc *desc = xmalloc(sizeof(*desc));
+
+       desc->name = comment;
+       desc->obj = (struct object *)commit;
        commit->tree = tree;
-       commit->util = (void*)comment;
-       /* avoid warnings */
+       commit->util = desc;
        commit->object.parsed = 1;
        return commit;
 }
        for (i = o->call_depth; i--;)
                fputs("  ", stdout);
        if (commit->util)
-               printf("virtual %s\n", (char *)commit->util);
+               printf("virtual %s\n", merge_remote_util(commit)->name);
        else {
                printf("%s ", find_unique_abbrev(commit->object.sha1, DEFAULT_ABBREV));
                if (parse_commit(commit) != 0)
 
        if (!cache_tree_fully_valid(active_cache_tree) &&
            cache_tree_update(active_cache_tree,
-                             active_cache, active_nr, 0, 0) < 0)
+                             active_cache, active_nr, 0) < 0)
                die("error building trees");
 
        result = lookup_tree(active_cache_tree->sha1);
 static int get_files_dirs(struct merge_options *o, struct tree *tree)
 {
        int n;
-       if (read_tree_recursive(tree, "", 0, 0, NULL, save_files_dirs, o))
+       struct pathspec match_all;
+       init_pathspec(&match_all, NULL);
+       if (read_tree_recursive(tree, "", 0, 0, &match_all, save_files_dirs, o))
                return 0;
        n = o->current_file_set.nr + o->current_directory_set.nr;
        return n;
                                     struct string_list *entries)
 {
        /* If there is a D/F conflict and the file for such a conflict
-        * currently exist in the working copy, we want to allow it to be
+        * currently exist in the working tree, we want to allow it to be
         * removed to make room for the corresponding directory if needed.
         * The files underneath the directories of such D/F conflicts will
         * be processed before the corresponding file involved in the D/F
                        free(result_buf.ptr);
                        result.clean = (merge_status == 0);
                } else if (S_ISGITLINK(a->mode)) {
-                       result.clean = merge_submodule(result.sha, one->path, one->sha1,
-                                                      a->sha1, b->sha1);
+                       result.clean = merge_submodule(result.sha,
+                                                      one->path, one->sha1,
+                                                      a->sha1, b->sha1,
+                                                      !o->call_depth);
                } else if (S_ISLNK(a->mode)) {
                        hashcpy(result.sha, a->sha1);
 
                path_renamed_outside_HEAD = !path2 || !strcmp(path, path2);
                if (!path_renamed_outside_HEAD) {
                        add_cacheinfo(mfi.mode, mfi.sha, path,
-                                     0 /*stage*/, 1 /*refresh*/, 0 /*options*/);
+                                     0, (!o->call_depth), 0);
                        return mfi.clean;
                }
        } else
 
        merged_common_ancestors = pop_commit(&ca);
        if (merged_common_ancestors == NULL) {
-               /* if there is no common ancestor, make an empty tree */
-               struct tree *tree = xcalloc(1, sizeof(struct tree));
+               /* if there is no common ancestor, use an empty tree */
+               struct tree *tree;
 
-               tree->object.parsed = 1;
-               tree->object.type = OBJ_TREE;
-               pretend_sha1_file(NULL, 0, OBJ_TREE, tree->object.sha1);
+               tree = lookup_tree((const unsigned char *)EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN);
                merged_common_ancestors = make_virtual_commit(tree, "ancestor");
        }
 
                o->subtree_shift = s + strlen("subtree=");
        else if (!strcmp(s, "patience"))
                o->xdl_opts |= XDF_PATIENCE_DIFF;
+       else if (!strcmp(s, "histogram"))
+               o->xdl_opts |= XDF_HISTOGRAM_DIFF;
        else if (!strcmp(s, "ignore-space-change"))
                o->xdl_opts |= XDF_IGNORE_WHITESPACE_CHANGE;
        else if (!strcmp(s, "ignore-all-space"))