diff --git a/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
index 7061d6634e..d271842608 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ OPTIONS
 	Instead of reading tree object(s) into the index, just empty
 	it.
 
+-q::
+--quiet::
+	Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
+
 <tree-ish#>::
 	The id of the tree object(s) to be read/merged.
 
diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index 2e72a5e5a9..ffa776c6e1 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 		topts.initial_checkout = is_cache_unborn();
 		topts.update = 1;
 		topts.merge = 1;
-		topts.gently = opts->merge && old_branch_info->commit;
+		topts.quiet = opts->merge && old_branch_info->commit;
 		topts.verbose_update = opts->show_progress;
 		topts.fn = twoway_merge;
 		if (opts->overwrite_ignore) {
@@ -725,6 +725,7 @@ static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			 */
 			struct tree *result;
 			struct tree *work;
+			struct tree *old_tree;
 			struct merge_options o;
 			struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 
@@ -737,6 +738,12 @@ static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			 */
 			if (!old_branch_info->commit)
 				return 1;
+			old_tree = get_commit_tree(old_branch_info->commit);
+
+			if (repo_index_has_changes(the_repository, old_tree, &sb))
+				die(_("cannot continue with staged changes in "
+				      "the following files:\n%s"), sb.buf);
+			strbuf_release(&sb);
 
 			if (repo_index_has_changes(the_repository,
 						   get_commit_tree(old_branch_info->commit),
@@ -781,7 +788,7 @@ static int merge_working_tree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 			ret = merge_trees(&o,
 					  get_commit_tree(new_branch_info->commit),
 					  work,
-					  get_commit_tree(old_branch_info->commit),
+					  old_tree,
 					  &result);
 			if (ret < 0)
 				exit(128);
diff --git a/builtin/read-tree.c b/builtin/read-tree.c
index 9083dcfa28..5c9c082595 100644
--- a/builtin/read-tree.c
+++ b/builtin/read-tree.c
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ int cmd_read_tree(int argc, const char **argv, const char *unused_prefix)
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "recurse-submodules", NULL,
 			    "checkout", "control recursive updating of submodules",
 			    PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_recurse_submodules_worktree_updater },
+		OPT__QUIET(&opts.quiet, N_("suppress feedback messages")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
diff --git a/t/t7201-co.sh b/t/t7201-co.sh
index 72b9b375ba..5990299fc9 100755
--- a/t/t7201-co.sh
+++ b/t/t7201-co.sh
@@ -223,13 +223,8 @@ test_expect_success 'switch to another branch while carrying a deletion' '
 	test_must_fail git checkout simple 2>errs &&
 	test_i18ngrep overwritten errs &&
 
-	git checkout --merge simple 2>errs &&
-	test_i18ngrep ! overwritten errs &&
-	git ls-files -u &&
-	test_must_fail git cat-file -t :0:two &&
-	test "$(git cat-file -t :1:two)" = blob &&
-	test "$(git cat-file -t :2:two)" = blob &&
-	test_must_fail git cat-file -t :3:two
+	test_must_fail git read-tree --quiet -m -u HEAD simple 2>errs &&
+	test_must_be_empty errs
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'checkout to detach HEAD (with advice declined)' '
diff --git a/unpack-trees.c b/unpack-trees.c
index 5f4325278a..afa4a5cea8 100644
--- a/unpack-trees.c
+++ b/unpack-trees.c
@@ -219,6 +219,9 @@ static int add_rejected_path(struct unpack_trees_options *o,
 			     enum unpack_trees_error_types e,
 			     const char *path)
 {
+	if (o->quiet)
+		return -1;
+
 	if (!o->show_all_errors)
 		return error(ERRORMSG(o, e), super_prefixed(path));
 
@@ -268,8 +271,7 @@ static int check_submodule_move_head(const struct cache_entry *ce,
 		flags |= SUBMODULE_MOVE_HEAD_FORCE;
 
 	if (submodule_move_head(ce->name, old_id, new_id, flags))
-		return o->gently ? -1 :
-				   add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_WOULD_LOSE_SUBMODULE, ce->name);
+		return add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_WOULD_LOSE_SUBMODULE, ce->name);
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -1039,7 +1041,7 @@ static int unpack_nondirectories(int n, unsigned long mask,
 static int unpack_failed(struct unpack_trees_options *o, const char *message)
 {
 	discard_index(&o->result);
-	if (!o->gently && !o->exiting_early) {
+	if (!o->quiet && !o->exiting_early) {
 		if (message)
 			return error("%s", message);
 		return -1;
@@ -1646,8 +1648,7 @@ return_failed:
 static int reject_merge(const struct cache_entry *ce,
 			struct unpack_trees_options *o)
 {
-	return o->gently ? -1 :
-		add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_WOULD_OVERWRITE, ce->name);
+	return add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_WOULD_OVERWRITE, ce->name);
 }
 
 static int same(const struct cache_entry *a, const struct cache_entry *b)
@@ -1694,8 +1695,7 @@ static int verify_uptodate_1(const struct cache_entry *ce,
 			int r = check_submodule_move_head(ce,
 				"HEAD", oid_to_hex(&ce->oid), o);
 			if (r)
-				return o->gently ? -1 :
-					add_rejected_path(o, error_type, ce->name);
+				return add_rejected_path(o, error_type, ce->name);
 			return 0;
 		}
 
@@ -1713,8 +1713,7 @@ static int verify_uptodate_1(const struct cache_entry *ce,
 	}
 	if (errno == ENOENT)
 		return 0;
-	return o->gently ? -1 :
-		add_rejected_path(o, error_type, ce->name);
+	return add_rejected_path(o, error_type, ce->name);
 }
 
 int verify_uptodate(const struct cache_entry *ce,
@@ -1834,8 +1833,7 @@ static int verify_clean_subdirectory(const struct cache_entry *ce,
 		d.exclude_per_dir = o->dir->exclude_per_dir;
 	i = read_directory(&d, o->src_index, pathbuf, namelen+1, NULL);
 	if (i)
-		return o->gently ? -1 :
-			add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_NOT_UPTODATE_DIR, ce->name);
+		return add_rejected_path(o, ERROR_NOT_UPTODATE_DIR, ce->name);
 	free(pathbuf);
 	return cnt;
 }
@@ -1904,8 +1902,7 @@ static int check_ok_to_remove(const char *name, int len, int dtype,
 			return 0;
 	}
 
-	return o->gently ? -1 :
-		add_rejected_path(o, error_type, name);
+	return add_rejected_path(o, error_type, name);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -2345,7 +2342,7 @@ int bind_merge(const struct cache_entry * const *src,
 		return error("Cannot do a bind merge of %d trees",
 			     o->merge_size);
 	if (a && old)
-		return o->gently ? -1 :
+		return o->quiet ? -1 :
 			error(ERRORMSG(o, ERROR_BIND_OVERLAP),
 			      super_prefixed(a->name),
 			      super_prefixed(old->name));
diff --git a/unpack-trees.h b/unpack-trees.h
index 0135080a7b..d344d7d296 100644
--- a/unpack-trees.h
+++ b/unpack-trees.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ struct unpack_trees_options {
 		     diff_index_cached,
 		     debug_unpack,
 		     skip_sparse_checkout,
-		     gently,
+		     quiet,
 		     exiting_early,
 		     show_all_errors,
 		     dry_run;