diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
index f6ac847507a635759323565be44b088b479d8bf0..49105102dbf899c62833572fdda51cefaed53476 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index.
 	commit relative to the named <commit>.  Typically you
 	would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
 	do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD.
+	If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborned branches) and
+	<commit> is not given, it shows all staged changes.
 	--staged is a synonym of --cached.
 
 'git diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
diff --git a/builtin/diff.c b/builtin/diff.c
index 945e7583a8294f0612682f3228687498e5c61822..42822cd5374dbcf0e63c17078a55284c432ddc77 100644
--- a/builtin/diff.c
+++ b/builtin/diff.c
@@ -330,8 +330,11 @@ int cmd_diff(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			else if (!strcmp(arg, "--cached") ||
 				 !strcmp(arg, "--staged")) {
 				add_head_to_pending(&rev);
-				if (!rev.pending.nr)
-					die("No HEAD commit to compare with (yet)");
+				if (!rev.pending.nr) {
+					struct tree *tree;
+					tree = lookup_tree((const unsigned char*)EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN);
+					add_pending_object(&rev, &tree->object, "HEAD");
+				}
 				break;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/t/t4013-diff-various.sh b/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
index 9a665205884fcdb1c5888558d6edf960e335e013..b8f81d07c33d3596fef5f5a361f4774d5e357fca 100755
--- a/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
+++ b/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
@@ -290,4 +290,15 @@ test_expect_success 'log -S requires an argument' '
 	test_must_fail git log -S
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'diff --cached on unborn branch' '
+	echo ref: refs/heads/unborn >.git/HEAD &&
+	git diff --cached >result &&
+	test_cmp "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t4013/diff.diff_--cached" result
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'diff --cached -- file on unborn branch' '
+	git diff --cached -- file0 >result &&
+	test_cmp "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t4013/diff.diff_--cached_--_file0" result
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached b/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ff16e83e7ca443e534700877ef4c00045f7251a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+diff --git a/dir/sub b/dir/sub
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000..992913c
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/dir/sub
+@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
++A
++B
++C
++D
++E
++F
++1
++2
+diff --git a/file0 b/file0
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000..10a8a9f
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/file0
+@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
++1
++2
++3
++4
++5
++6
++A
++B
++C
+diff --git a/file1 b/file1
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000..b1e6722
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/file1
+@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
++A
++B
++C
diff --git a/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached_--_file0 b/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached_--_file0
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b9bb858a039da8de3a966f10842a0b0e74ea2b1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t4013/diff.diff_--cached_--_file0
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+diff --git a/file0 b/file0
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000..10a8a9f
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/file0
+@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
++1
++2
++3
++4
++5
++6
++A
++B
++C