diff --git a/base85.c b/base85.c
index b417a15bbc83fff7180078a4cf9f73603477a295..e459feebbf90c6557dbf3ff913f83a57a8afb210 100644
--- a/base85.c
+++ b/base85.c
@@ -57,14 +57,8 @@ int decode_85(char *dst, const char *buffer, int len)
 		de = de85[ch];
 		if (--de < 0)
 			return error("invalid base85 alphabet %c", ch);
-		/*
-		 * Detect overflow.  The largest
-		 * 5-letter possible is "|NsC0" to
-		 * encode 0xffffffff, and "|NsC" gives
-		 * 0x03030303 at this point (i.e.
-		 * 0xffffffff = 0x03030303 * 85).
-		 */
-		if (0x03030303 < acc ||
+		/* Detect overflow. */
+		if (0xffffffff / 85 < acc ||
 		    0xffffffff - de < (acc *= 85))
 			return error("invalid base85 sequence %.5s", buffer-5);
 		acc += de;
@@ -84,8 +78,6 @@ int decode_85(char *dst, const char *buffer, int len)
 
 void encode_85(char *buf, const unsigned char *data, int bytes)
 {
-	prep_base85();
-
 	say("encode 85");
 	while (bytes) {
 		unsigned acc = 0;
@@ -118,7 +110,7 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 		int len = strlen(av[2]);
 		encode_85(buf, av[2], len);
 		if (len <= 26) len = len + 'A' - 1;
-		else len = len + 'a' - 26 + 1;
+		else len = len + 'a' - 26 - 1;
 		printf("encoded: %c%s\n", len, buf);
 		return 0;
 	}
diff --git a/builtin-checkout.c b/builtin-checkout.c
index 64f3a11ae1d415c466def8eccefe9dbc5b6b3926..2708669383e21f038a1404e061b34bc4302e8a93 100644
--- a/builtin-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin-checkout.c
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ static int merge_working_tree(struct checkout_opts *opts,
 		topts.initial_checkout = is_cache_unborn();
 		topts.update = 1;
 		topts.merge = 1;
-		topts.gently = opts->merge;
+		topts.gently = opts->merge && old->commit;
 		topts.verbose_update = !opts->quiet;
 		topts.fn = twoway_merge;
 		topts.dir = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*topts.dir));
@@ -422,7 +422,13 @@ static int merge_working_tree(struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			struct merge_options o;
 			if (!opts->merge)
 				return 1;
-			parse_commit(old->commit);
+
+			/*
+			 * Without old->commit, the below is the same as
+			 * the two-tree unpack we already tried and failed.
+			 */
+			if (!old->commit)
+				return 1;
 
 			/* Do more real merge */