diff --git a/update_git.sh b/update_git.sh
index 147a6e49..f3711bb2 100644
--- a/update_git.sh
+++ b/update_git.sh
@@ -14,25 +14,25 @@ check_requirements() {
     RC=0
     if [[ ! $(rpm -q git-core) ]]; then
         echo "ERROR: Missing dependency: git-core"
-	RC=1
+        RC=1
     fi
     if [[ ! $(rpm -q osc) ]]; then
         echo "ERROR: Missing dependency: osc package"
-	RC=1
+        RC=1
     fi
     if [[ ! $(rpm -q obs-service-format_spec_file) ]]; then
         echo "ERROR: Missing dependency: obs-service-format_spec_file package"
-	RC=1
+        RC=1
     fi
     ONE_GIG_IN_1K_BLOCKS=1048576
     AVAIL=$(df --output=avail /dev/shm | tail -1)
     if [[ $AVAIL -lt $ONE_GIG_IN_1K_BLOCKS ]]; then
         echo "ERROR: Please provide at least 1GB available space in /dev/shm"
-	RC=1
+        RC=1
     fi
     if [[ "$RC" = "1" ]]; then
         echo "Script requires the above resources. Please resolve to use this workflow"
-	exit
+        exit
     fi
 }
 
@@ -63,14 +63,14 @@ if [ "$GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH" != "LATEST" ]; then
         case $1 in
             help | -H | -h )
                 usage
-	        exit
+                exit
                 ;;
                 initbundle | git2pkg |  pkg2git | refresh )
                 ;;
             * )
                 echo "Unknown command"
                 usage
-	        exit
+                exit
             ;;
         esac
     fi
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ for (( i=0; i <$REPO_COUNT; i++ )); do
             echo "Using $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH"
             PATCH_RANGE_INDEX=$i
             mkdir -p $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR
-            git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR init
+            git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR -c init.defaultBranch=$GIT_BRANCH init
             git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR remote add origin file://$(readlink -f \
                 ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$PATCH_RANGE_INDEX]})
             if [[ $(git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR ls-remote --heads origin $GIT_BRANCH) ]]; then
@@ -241,19 +241,25 @@ for entry in ${ID_FILES[@]}; do
     LOCAL_REPO=$(readlink -f ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$PATCH_RANGE_INDEX]})
     if [ -e $LOCAL_REPO ]; then
         git -C $LOCAL_REPO remote remove bundlerepo || true
-        # git won't let you delete a branch we're on - so get onto master temporarily (TODO: is there a better approach?)
-        git -C $LOCAL_REPO checkout master -f
-        git -C $LOCAL_REPO branch -D frombundle || true
         if [ -e $BUNDLE_DIR/$SUBDIR/$GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH.bundle ]; then
             git -C $LOCAL_REPO remote add bundlerepo $BUNDLE_DIR/$SUBDIR/$GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH.bundle
             git -C $LOCAL_REPO fetch bundlerepo FETCH_HEAD
-            git -C $LOCAL_REPO branch frombundle FETCH_HEAD
+            git -C $LOCAL_REPO branch -f frombundle FETCH_HEAD
             git -C $LOCAL_REPO remote remove bundlerepo
+        else
+            # It's problematic to leave "stale" frombundle branches around
+            git -C $LOCAL_REPO branch -D frombundle || true
         fi
     else
         if [ -e $BUNDLE_DIR/$SUBDIR/$GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH.bundle ]; then
             # TODO: We should be able to handle this case with some more coding, but for now...
-            echo "No local repo $LOCAL_REPO available to process git bundle! Moving on..."
+            echo "No local repo $LOCAL_REPO available to process git bundle!"
+            if [ "$GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH" = "LATEST" ]; then
+                echo "The above is FATAL when doing LATEST processing - please fix"
+                exit
+            else
+                echo "Moving on..."
+            fi
         fi
     fi
 done
@@ -270,12 +276,14 @@ rm -rf $GIT_DIR
 #!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 # TODO: WHAT IS THIS NEXT LINE EVEN DOING FOR US?? (OK, it's initing a repo, what do we rely on there?)
-git clone -ls ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} $GIT_DIR -b master --single-branch &>/dev/null
+# Here, the branch doesn't really matter, and we're not relying on a master branch - we're just making sure we are grabbing latest from upstream
+# (while using a clone of "something close" as a way to quickly get most objects available as quickly as possible)
+git clone -ls ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} $GIT_DIR -b $GIT_BRANCH --single-branch &>/dev/null
 echo "Please wait..."
 (cd $GIT_DIR && git remote add upstream \
 $UPSTREAM_GIT_REPO &>/dev/null)
 (cd $GIT_DIR && git remote update upstream &>/dev/null)
-(cd $GIT_DIR && git checkout $NEW_COMMIT_ISH &>/dev/null)
+(cd $GIT_DIR && git reset --hard $NEW_COMMIT_ISH &>/dev/null)
 # As an alternative, we could add a --recurse-submodules to the checkout instead here as well, right?
 #UPSTREAM DOESNT DO THIS (time takes 17 minutes!):
 #        (cd $GIT_DIR && git submodule update --init --recursive &>/dev/null)
@@ -348,14 +356,11 @@ for (( i=0; i <$REPO_COUNT; i++ )); do
             if [[ $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH  =~ .*(.{40})[.]id ]]; then
                 GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
             fi
-            git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} checkout -f frombundle
-            git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} branch -D $GIT_BRANCH
-            git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} checkout -b $GIT_BRANCH
+            git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} checkout -B $GIT_BRANCH frombundle
             if [[ "$SUBDIR" = "" ]]; then
                 SUBDIR=SUPERPROJECT
             fi
-            if ! $(git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} rebase --onto ${COMMIT_IDS_BY_SUBMODULE_PATH[$SUBDIR]} $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH  >/dev/null); then
-# TODO: record that this one needs manual help!
+            if ! $(git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} rebase $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH  >/dev/null); then
                 echo "Rebase of ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]}, branch $GIT_BRANCH needs manual help"
                 REBASE_FAILS="${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} $REBASE_FAILS"
             fi
@@ -458,14 +463,12 @@ for entry in ${BUNDLE_FILES[@]}; do
 
     if [[ -e $(readlink -f ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$PATCH_RANGE_INDEX]}) ]]; then
         mkdir -p $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR
-        git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR init
+        git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR -c init.defaultBranch=$GIT_BRANCH init
         git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR remote add origin file://$(readlink -f \
             ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$PATCH_RANGE_INDEX]})
         # This tag reference, was added to resolve $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH, which is tag as commit-id
-#needed?        git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR fetch --depth=1 origin $GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH
-	# Since origin may be shallow, we need to use the --update-shallow option
+        # Since origin may be shallow, we need to use the --update-shallow option
         git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR fetch --update-shallow origin $GIT_BRANCH
-#needed?        git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR reset --hard $GITREPO_COMMIT_ISH
         git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR remote add bundle $BUNDLE_DIR/$entry 
         git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR fetch bundle FETCH_HEAD
         git -C $GIT_DIR/$SUBDIR format-patch -N --suffix= --no-renames -o $CMP_DIR -k --stat=72 \
@@ -521,7 +524,7 @@ rm -rf $BUNDLE_DIR
         tail -n +2 $i > $CMP_DIR/"${BASENAME:0:$KEEP_COUNT}".patch
         rm $i
     done
-    cp savedir/* $CMP_DIR || true
+    cp savedir/* $CMP_DIR/ || true
     rm -rf savedir
 # 4 digit xxxx-name used in the dest (remember that if 5 digit potential, then if not now 5 digit, add a 0 in front)
 
@@ -795,7 +798,7 @@ if [[ ! -e $(readlink -f ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}) ]]; then
         setup_common_vars
         # TODO: The following doesn't really do what we need (we adjust later) FIX!!!
         # git clone --depth 1 -b $GIT_BRANCH --single-branch $PACKAGE_MAIN_GIT_REPO ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}
-        git init ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}
+        git -c init.defaultBranch=$GIT_BRANCH init ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}
         git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} remote add origin $PACKAGE_MAIN_GIT_REPO &>/dev/null
         git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} fetch origin +refs/tags/initial:refs/tags/initial --no-tags
         git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} reset --hard initial
@@ -804,10 +807,10 @@ if [[ ! -e $(readlink -f ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}) ]]; then
         git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/$GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH:refs/tags/$GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH --no-tags
         git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} remote add upstream $UPSTREAM_GIT_REPO &>/dev/null
         bundle2local
-        git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} checkout -b $GIT_BRANCH frombundle
+        git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} checkout -B $GIT_BRANCH frombundle
         echo "We set up a shallow local repo of the package's git superproject at"
-	echo "${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}, and initialized it from the bundle."
-	echo "(no options processed)"
+        echo "${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]}, and initialized it from the bundle."
+        echo "(no options processed)"
         echo "If you wish to make the repo complete for all qemu packaging work,"
         echo "unshallow it first with git fetch --unshallow origin --all, then get"
         echo "the submodules updated with git submodule update --init --recursive"
@@ -843,7 +846,7 @@ for (( i=0; i <$REPO_COUNT; i++ )); do
     if [[ -e $(readlink -f ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]}) ]]; then
         if [[ -e ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]}/.git/shallow ]]; then
             echo "${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} is shallow, skipping checks"
-	    continue
+            continue
         fi
         if [[ -d ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]}/.git/rebase-merge  || \
             -d ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]}/.git/rebase-apply ]]; then
@@ -861,15 +864,15 @@ for (( i=0; i <$REPO_COUNT; i++ )); do
             echo "(ensure git status --porcelain produces no output)"
             exit
         fi
-        if ! git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} checkout master --recurse-submodules -f &> /dev/null; then
+        if ! git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} checkout $GIT_BRANCH --recurse-submodules -f &> /dev/null; then
             echo "Please clean up state of local repo ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} before using script"
-            echo "(cannot check out master, incl. it's submodules)"
+            echo "(cannot check out $GIT_BRANCH, incl. it's submodules)"
             exit
         fi
         # This does additional setup now that we've possibly grabbed additional submodules
         if ! git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} submodule update --init --recursive &> /dev/null; then
             echo "Please clean up state of local repo ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} before using script"
-            echo "(cannot init and update master submodules)"
+            echo "(cannot init and update $GIT_BRANCH branch submodules)"
             exit
         fi
         if [ "$(git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[$i]} status --porcelain)" ]; then
@@ -899,7 +902,6 @@ if [ "$GIT_UPSTREAM_COMMIT_ISH" = "LATEST" ]; then
     done
     NEW_COMMIT_ISH_FULL=$(cd ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} && git rev-parse upstream/master)
     NEW_COMMIT_ISH=${NEW_COMMIT_ISH_FULL:0:8}
-    git -C ${LOCAL_REPO_MAP[0]} checkout $NEW_COMMIT_ISH_FULL --recurse-submodules -f &> /dev/null
     setup_common_vars
     WRITE_LOG=0
     echo "Processing LATEST upstream changes"