diff --git a/README b/README
index 495c70b..c418ff4 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -244,6 +244,10 @@ tg delete
 	only empty branch (base == head); use '-f' to remove
 	non-empty branch.
 
+	The '-f' option is also useful to force removal of a branch's base, if
+	you used 'git branch -D B' to remove the branch B, and then certain
+	TopGit commands complain, because the base of branch B is still there.
+
 	Currently, this command will _NOT_ remove the branch from
 	the dependency list in other branches. You need to take
 	care of this _manually_. This is even more complicated
@@ -304,6 +308,13 @@ tg mail
 	The '-r' parameter with msgid can be used to generate in-reply-to
 	and reference headers to an earlier mail.
 
+	Note: be careful when using this command.  It easily sends out several
+	mails.  You might want to run
+
+		git config sendemail.confirm always
+
+	to let `git send-email` ask for confirmation before sending any mail.
+
 	TODO: 'tg mail patchfile' to mail an already exported patch
 	TODO: mailing patch series
 	TODO: specifying additional options and addresses on command
diff --git a/tg-delete.sh b/tg-delete.sh
index ab121c2..e1eea17 100644
--- a/tg-delete.sh
+++ b/tg-delete.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # (c) Petr Baudis <pasky@suse.cz>  2008
 # GPLv2
 
-force= # Whether to delete non-empty branch
+force= # Whether to delete non-empty branch, or branch where only the base is left.
 name=
 
 
@@ -28,21 +28,22 @@ done
 
 [ -n "$name" ] || die "no branch name specified"
 branchrev="$(git rev-parse --verify "$name" 2>/dev/null)" ||
-	die "invalid branch name: $name"
+	if [ -n "$force" ]; then
+		info "invalid branch name: $name; assuming it has been deleted already"
+	else
+		die "invalid branch name: $name"
+	fi
 baserev="$(git rev-parse --verify "refs/top-bases/$name" 2>/dev/null)" ||
 	die "not a TopGit topic branch: $name"
 ! git symbolic-ref HEAD >/dev/null || [ "$(git symbolic-ref HEAD)" != "refs/heads/$name" ] ||
 	die "cannot delete your current branch"
 
-nonempty=
-branch_empty "$name" || nonempty=1
-
-[ -z "$nonempty" ] || [ -n "$force" ] || die "branch is non-empty: $name"
+[ -z "$force" ] && { branch_empty "$name" || die "branch is non-empty: $name"; }
 
 
 ## Wipe out
 
 git update-ref -d "refs/top-bases/$name" "$baserev"
-git update-ref -d "refs/heads/$name" "$branchrev"
+[ -z "$branchrev" ] || git update-ref -d "refs/heads/$name" "$branchrev"
 
 # vim:noet
diff --git a/tg-mail.sh b/tg-mail.sh
index f5c0cf4..8167ade 100644
--- a/tg-mail.sh
+++ b/tg-mail.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ base_rev="$(git rev-parse --short --verify "refs/top-bases/$name" 2>/dev/null)"
 	die "not a TopGit-controlled branch"
 
 if [ -n "$in_reply_to" ]; then
-	send_email_args="$send_email_args --in-reply-to=$in_reply_to"
+	send_email_args="$send_email_args --in-reply-to='$in_reply_to'"
 fi
 
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ patchfile="$(mktemp -t tg-mail.XXXXXX)"
 
 $tg patch "$name" >"$patchfile"
 
-header="$(sed -e '/^$/,$d' "$patchfile")"
+header="$(sed -e '/^$/,$d' -e "s,','\\\\'',g" "$patchfile")"
 
 
 
diff --git a/tg-patch.sh b/tg-patch.sh
index d701c54..7bafdfe 100644
--- a/tg-patch.sh
+++ b/tg-patch.sh
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ git diff --name-only $diff_opts "$base_rev" ${diff_committed_only:+"$name"} -- |
 	fgrep -vx ".topdeps" |
 	fgrep -vx ".topmsg" >"$git_is_stupid" || : # fgrep likes to fail randomly?
 if [ -s "$git_is_stupid" ]; then
-	cat "$git_is_stupid" | xargs git diff --patch-with-stat $diff_opts "$base_rev" ${diff_committed_only:+"$name"} --
+	cd "$root_dir"
+	cat "$git_is_stupid" | xargs git diff -a --patch-with-stat $diff_opts "$base_rev" ${diff_committed_only:+"$name"} --
 else
 	echo "No changes."
 fi
diff --git a/tg-push.sh b/tg-push.sh
index cd208a0..199d738 100644
--- a/tg-push.sh
+++ b/tg-push.sh
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ push_branch()
 	# if so desired omit non tgish deps
 	$tgish_deps_only && [ -z "$_dep_is_tgish" ] && return 0
 
+	# filter out plain SHA1s.  These don't need to be pushed explicitly as
+	# the patches that depend on the sha1 have it already in their ancestry.
+	is_sha1 "$_dep" && return 0
+
 	echo "$_dep" >> "$_listfile"
 	[ -z "$_dep_is_tgish" ] ||
 		echo "top-bases/$_dep" >> "$_listfile"
diff --git a/tg.sh b/tg.sh
index 1f259e3..9d08d63 100644
--- a/tg.sh
+++ b/tg.sh
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ setup_hook()
 	else
 		hook_call="exec $hook_call"
 	fi
+	# Don't call hook if tg is not installed
+	hook_call="if which \"$tg\" > /dev/null; then $hook_call; fi"
 	# Insert call into the hook
 	{
 		echo "#!/bin/sh"
@@ -126,6 +128,13 @@ branch_annihilated()
 	test "$(git rev-parse "$mb^{tree}")" = "$(git rev-parse "$_name^{tree}")";
 }
 
+# is_sha1 REF
+# Whether REF is a SHA1 (compared to a symbolic name).
+is_sha1()
+{
+	[ "$(git rev-parse "$1")" = "$1" ]
+}
+
 # recurse_deps CMD NAME [BRANCHPATH...]
 # Recursively eval CMD on all dependencies of NAME.
 # CMD can refer to $_name for queried branch name,
@@ -304,7 +313,7 @@ setup_pager()
 
 
 	# now spawn pager
-	export LESS=${LESS:-FRSX}	# as in pager.c:pager_preexec()
+	export LESS="${LESS:-FRSX}"	# as in pager.c:pager_preexec()
 
 	_pager_fifo_dir="$(mktemp -t -d tg-pager-fifo.XXXXXX)"
 	_pager_fifo="$_pager_fifo_dir/0"