diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index e0aaf13583..7d48ef3b4e 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -579,7 +579,8 @@ static int checkout(void)
 	tree = parse_tree_indirect(sha1);
 	parse_tree(tree);
 	init_tree_desc(&t, tree->buffer, tree->size);
-	unpack_trees(1, &t, &opts);
+	if (unpack_trees(1, &t, &opts) < 0)
+		die(_("unable to checkout working tree"));
 
 	if (write_cache(fd, active_cache, active_nr) ||
 	    commit_locked_index(lock_file))
diff --git a/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh b/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
index e29406e27a..4e7030e613 100755
--- a/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
+++ b/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ test_expect_success 'clone --local detects corruption' '
 	test_must_fail git clone --local bit-error corrupt-checkout
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'clone --local detects missing objects' '
+test_expect_success 'clone --local detects missing objects' '
 	test_must_fail git clone --local missing missing-checkout
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t5710-info-alternate.sh b/t/t5710-info-alternate.sh
index aa045295de..5a6e49d18d 100755
--- a/t/t5710-info-alternate.sh
+++ b/t/t5710-info-alternate.sh
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ test_expect_success 'creating too deep nesting' \
 git clone -l -s D E &&
 git clone -l -s E F &&
 git clone -l -s F G &&
-git clone -l -s G H'
+git clone --bare -l -s G H'
 
 test_expect_success 'invalidity of deepest repository' \
 'cd H && {