[ -n "$VCSH_DEBUG" ]      && set -vx
 [ -z "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME" ] && XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/.config"
-[ -z "$VCSH_BASE" ]       && VCSH_BASE="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d"
+[ -z "$VCSH_REPO_D" ]     && VCSH_REPO_D="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d"
+[ -z "$VCSH_BASE" ]       && VCSH_BASE="$HOME"
 
 SELF=$(basename $0)
 
        git remote add origin "$GIT_REMOTE"
        git config branch.master.remote origin
        git config branch.master.merge  refs/heads/master
+       if [ -z $(git ls-remote 2> /dev/null) ]; then
+               info "remote is empty, not merging anything"
+               exit
+       fi
        git fetch
        for object in $(git ls-tree -r origin/master | awk '{print $4}'); do
                [ -e "$object" ] &&
 }
 
 delete() {
-       cd "$HOME" || fatal "could not enter '$HOME'" 11
+       cd "$VCSH_BASE" || fatal "could not enter '$VCSH_BASE'" 11
        use
        info "This operation WILL DETROY DATA!"
        files=$(git ls-files)
 
 init() {
        [ ! -e "$GIT_DIR" ] || fatal "'$GIT_DIR' exists" 10
-       export GIT_WORK_TREE="$HOME"
+       export GIT_WORK_TREE="$VCSH_BASE"
        mkdir -p "$GIT_WORK_TREE" || fatal "could not create '$GIT_WORK_TREE'" 50
        cd "$GIT_WORK_TREE" || fatal "could not enter '$GIT_WORK_TREE'" 11
        git init
 }
 
 list() {
-       for i in "$VCSH_BASE"/*.git; do
+       for i in "$VCSH_REPO_D"/*.git; do
                echo $(basename "$i" .git)
        done
 }
 
 get_files() {
-       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_BASE/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
+       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
        git ls-files
 }
 
        git config core.worktree     "$GIT_WORK_TREE"
        git config core.excludesfile ".gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME"
        git config vcsh.vcsh         'true'
-       [ -e "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ] && git add -f "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME"
+       [ -e "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ] && git add -f "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME"
 }
 
 use() {
 
 write_gitignore() {
        use
-       cd "$HOME" || fatal "could not enter '$HOME'" 11
+       cd "$VCSH_BASE" || fatal "could not enter '$VCSH_BASE'" 11
        gitignores=$(for file in $(git ls-files); do
                while true; do
                        echo $file; new="${file%/*}"
                echo "$gitignore" | sed 's/^/!/' >> "$tempfile" || fatal "could not write to '$tempfile'" 57
                [ -d "$gitignore" ] && { echo "$gitignore/*" | sed 's/^/!/' >> "$tempfile" || fatal "could not write to '$tempfile'" 57; }
        done
-       if diff -N "$tempfile" "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" > /dev/null; then
+       if diff -N "$tempfile" "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" > /dev/null; then
                rm -f "$tempfile" || error "could not delete '$tempfile'"
                exit
        fi
-       if [ -e "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ]; then
-               info "'$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME' differs from new data, moving it to '$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak'"
-               mv -f "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak" ||
-                       fatal "could not move '$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME' to '$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak'" 53
+       if [ -e "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ]; then
+               info "'$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME' differs from new data, moving it to '$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak'"
+               mv -f "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak" ||
+                       fatal "could not move '$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME' to '$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.bak'" 53
        fi
-       mv -f "$tempfile" "$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ||
-               fatal "could not move '$tempfile' to '$HOME/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME'" 53
+       mv -f "$tempfile" "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ||
+               fatal "could not move '$tempfile' to '$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME'" 53
 }
 
 if [ "$1" = 'clone' ]; then
        GIT_REMOTE="$2"
        [ -n "$3" ] && VCSH_REPO_NAME="$3" || VCSH_REPO_NAME=$(basename "$GIT_REMOTE" .git)
        export VCSH_REPO_NAME
-       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_BASE/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
+       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
 elif [ "$1" = 'delete' ] ||
      [ "$1" = 'enter' ] ||
      [ "$1" = 'init' ] ||
        [ "$1" = 'run' -a -z "$3" ]    && fatal "$1: please specify a command" 1
        export VCSH_COMMAND="$1"
        export VCSH_REPO_NAME="$2"
-       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_BASE/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
-       [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'rename' ]         && export GIT_DIR_NEW="$VCSH_BASE/$3.git"
+       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
+       [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'rename' ]         && export GIT_DIR_NEW="$VCSH_REPO_D/$3.git"
        [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'run' ] && shift 2 && export VCSH_EXTERNAL_COMMAND="$*"
        [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'write-gitignore' ]
 elif [ "$1" = 'list' ] ||
 elif [ -n "$2" ]; then
        export VCSH_COMMAND='run'
        export VCSH_REPO_NAME="$1"
-       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_BASE/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
+       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
        [ -d $GIT_DIR ] || { help; exit 1; }
        shift 1
        export VCSH_EXTERNAL_COMMAND="git $*"
 elif [ -n "$1" ]; then
        export VCSH_COMMAND='enter'
        export VCSH_REPO_NAME="$1"
-       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_BASE/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
+       export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"
        [ -d $GIT_DIR ] || { help; exit 1; }
 else
        # $1 is empty, or 'help'
 fi
 
 
-for check_directory in "$VCSH_BASE" "$HOME/.gitignore.d"
+for check_directory in "$VCSH_REPO_D" "$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d"
 do
        if [ ! -d "$check_directory" ]; then
                if [ -e "$check_directory" ]; then