# is to help prevent randomly "globbed" ref from being chosen as
 # a merge candidate
 expand_refs_wildcard () {
+       remote="$1"
+       shift
        first_one=yes
+       if test "$#" = 0
+       then
+               echo empty
+               echo >&2 "Nothing specified for fetching with remote.$remote.fetch"
+       fi
        for ref
        do
                lref=${ref#'+'}
        if test "$1" = "-d"
        then
                shift ; remote="$1" ; shift
-               set $(expand_refs_wildcard "$@")
+               set $(expand_refs_wildcard "$remote" "$@")
                is_explicit="$1"
                shift
                if test "$remote" = "$(get_default_remote)"