# This should always be the first line of code to facilitate debugging
 [ -n "$VCSH_DEBUG" ] && set -vx
 
+
+# If '.git-HEAD' is appended to the version, you are seeing an unreleased
+# version of vcsh; the master branch is supposed to be clean at all times
+# so you can most likely just use it nonetheless
+VERSION='1.20131229.git-HEAD'
 SELF=$(basename $0)
-VERSION='1.20131214.git-HEAD'
 
 fatal() {
        echo "$SELF: fatal: $1" >&2
 
 # Read configuration and set defaults if anything's not set
 [ -n "$VCSH_DEBUG" ]                  && set -vx
-[ -z "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME" ]             && XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/.config"
+: ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:=$HOME/.config}
 
 # Read configuration files if there are any
 [ -r "/etc/vcsh/config" ]             && . "/etc/vcsh/config"
 [ -n "$VCSH_DEBUG" ]                  && set -vx
 
 # Read defaults
-[ -z "$VCSH_REPO_D" ]                 && VCSH_REPO_D="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d"
-[ -z "$VCSH_HOOK_D" ]                 && VCSH_HOOK_D="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled"
-[ -z "$VCSH_BASE" ]                   && VCSH_BASE="$HOME"
-[ -z "$VCSH_GITIGNORE" ]              && VCSH_GITIGNORE='exact'
-[ -z "$VCSH_WORKTREE" ]               && VCSH_WORKTREE='absolute'
+: ${VCSH_REPO_D:=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d}
+: ${VCSH_HOOK_D:=$XDH_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/hooks-enabled}
+: ${VCSH_BASE:=$HOME}
+: ${VCSH_GITIGNORE:=exact}
+: ${VCSH_WORKTREE:=absolute}
 
 if [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xexact' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xnone' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xrecursive' ]; then
        fatal "'\$VCSH_GITIGNORE' must equal 'exact', 'none', or 'recursive'" 1
                exit
        fi
        git fetch
-       for object in $(git ls-tree -r origin/master | awk '{print $4}'); do
+       hook pre-merge
+       git ls-tree -r --name-only origin/master | (while read object; do
                [ -e "$object" ] &&
                        error "'$object' exists." &&
                        VCSH_CONFLICT=1
        done
-       [ "$VCSH_CONFLICT" = '1' ] &&
+       [ "$VCSH_CONFLICT" = '1' ]) &&
                fatal "will stop after fetching and not try to merge!
   Once this situation has been resolved, run 'vcsh run $VCSH_REPO_NAME git pull' to finish cloning." 17
        git merge origin/master
+       hook post-merge
        hook post-clone
        retire
        hook post-clone-retired
        done | sort -u)
 
        # Contrary to GNU mktemp, mktemp on BSD/OSX requires a template for temp files
-       # Use the template GNU mktemo defaults to
-       # The downside to this is that we need to account for unset TMPDIR
-       tempfile=$(mktemp ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/tmp.XXXXXXXXXX) || fatal "could not create tempfile: '${tempfile}'" 51
+       # Using a template makes GNU mktemp default to $PWD and not #TMPDIR for tempfile location
+       # To make every OS happy, set full path explicitly
+       tempfile=$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/tmp.XXXXXXXXXX") || fatal "could not create tempfile: '${tempfile}'" 51
 
        echo '*' > "$tempfile" || fatal "could not write to '$tempfile'" 57
        for gitignore in $gitignores; do
 
 export VCSH_COMMAND="$1"
 
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'clon' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'clo' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'cl' ]                                                                && VCSH_COMMAND='clone'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'commi' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'comm' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'com' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'co' ]                                && VCSH_COMMAND='commit'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'delet' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'dele' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'del' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'de' ]                                && VCSH_COMMAND='delete'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ente' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ent' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'en' ]                                                                && VCSH_COMMAND='enter'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'hel' ]    || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'he' ]                                                                                                 && VCSH_COMMAND='help'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ini' ]    || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'in' ]                                                                                                 && VCSH_COMMAND='init'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'pul' ]                                                                                                                                  && VCSH_COMMAND='pull'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'pus' ]                                                                                                                                  && VCSH_COMMAND='push'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'renam' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'rena' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ren' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 're' ]                                && VCSH_COMMAND='rename'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ru' ]                                                                                                                                   && VCSH_COMMAND='run'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'statu' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'stat' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'sta' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'st' ]                                && VCSH_COMMAND='status'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'upgrad' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'upgra' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'upgr' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'upg' ]                               && VCSH_COMMAND='upgrade'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'versio' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'versi' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'vers' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'ver' ] || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 've' ] && VCSH_COMMAND='version'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'whic' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'whi' ]   || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'wh' ]                                                                && VCSH_COMMAND='which'
-[ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'write' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'writ' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'wri' ]  || [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'wr' ]                                && VCSH_COMMAND='write-gitignore'
-
+case "$VCSH_COMMAND" in
+       clon|clo|cl) VCSH_COMMAND=clone;;
+       commi|comm|com|co) VCSH_COMMAND=commit;;
+       delet|dele|del|de) VCSH_COMMAND=delete;;
+       ente|ent|en) VCSH_COMMAND=enter;;
+       hel|he) VCSH_COMMAND=help;;
+       ini|in) VCSH_COMMAND=init;;
+       pul) VCSH_COMMAND=pull;;
+       pus) VCSH_COMMAND=push;;
+       renam|rena|ren|re) VCSH_COMMAND=rename;;
+       ru) VCSH_COMMAND=run;;
+       statu|stat|sta|st) VCSH_COMMAND=status;;
+       upgrad|upgra|upgr|up) VCSH_COMMAND=upgrade;;
+       versio|versi|vers|ver|ve) VCSH_COMMAND=version;;
+       which|whi|wh) VCSH_COMMAND=which;;
+       write|writ|wri|wr) VCSH_COMMAND=write-gitignore;;
+esac    
 
 if [ "$VCSH_COMMAND" = 'clone' ]; then
        [ -z "$2" ] && fatal "$VCSH_COMMAND: please specify a remote" 1
        GIT_REMOTE="$2"
-       [ -n "$3" ] && VCSH_REPO_NAME="$3" || VCSH_REPO_NAME=$(basename "$GIT_REMOTE" .git)
+       [ -n "$3" ] && VCSH_REPO_NAME="$3" || VCSH_REPO_NAME=$(basename "${GIT_REMOTE#*:}" .git)
        [ -z "$VCSH_REPO_NAME" ] && fatal "$VCSH_COMMAND: could not determine repository name" 1
        export VCSH_REPO_NAME
        export GIT_DIR="$VCSH_REPO_D/$VCSH_REPO_NAME.git"