diff --git a/abspath.c b/abspath.c
index c91a29cb29..91ca00f05f 100644
--- a/abspath.c
+++ b/abspath.c
@@ -108,10 +108,14 @@ const char *make_nonrelative_path(const char *path)
 		if (strlcpy(buf, path, PATH_MAX) >= PATH_MAX)
 			die("Too long path: %.*s", 60, path);
 	} else {
+		size_t len;
+		const char *fmt;
 		const char *cwd = get_pwd_cwd();
 		if (!cwd)
 			die_errno("Cannot determine the current working directory");
-		if (snprintf(buf, PATH_MAX, "%s/%s", cwd, path) >= PATH_MAX)
+		len = strlen(cwd);
+		fmt = (len > 0 && is_dir_sep(cwd[len-1])) ? "%s%s" : "%s/%s";
+		if (snprintf(buf, PATH_MAX, fmt, cwd, path) >= PATH_MAX)
 			die("Too long path: %.*s", 60, path);
 	}
 	return buf;
diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index f2d9e1fd97..6590f33cc8 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ int mingw_open (const char *filename, int oflags, ...)
 	mode = va_arg(args, int);
 	va_end(args);
 
-	if (!strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
+	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
 
 	fd = open(filename, oflags, mode);
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ ssize_t mingw_write(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
 #undef fopen
 FILE *mingw_fopen (const char *filename, const char *otype)
 {
-	if (!strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
+	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
 	return fopen(filename, otype);
 }
@@ -192,8 +192,11 @@ static inline time_t filetime_to_time_t(const FILETIME *ft)
 /* We keep the do_lstat code in a separate function to avoid recursion.
  * When a path ends with a slash, the stat will fail with ENOENT. In
  * this case, we strip the trailing slashes and stat again.
+ *
+ * If follow is true then act like stat() and report on the link
+ * target. Otherwise report on the link itself.
  */
-static int do_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+static int do_lstat(int follow, const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 {
 	WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA fdata;
 
@@ -209,6 +212,25 @@ static int do_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 		buf->st_atime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftLastAccessTime));
 		buf->st_mtime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftLastWriteTime));
 		buf->st_ctime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftCreationTime));
+		if (fdata.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT) {
+			WIN32_FIND_DATAA findbuf;
+			HANDLE handle = FindFirstFileA(file_name, &findbuf);
+			if (handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+				if ((findbuf.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT) &&
+						(findbuf.dwReserved0 == IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK)) {
+					if (follow) {
+						char buffer[MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE];
+						buf->st_size = readlink(file_name, buffer, MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE);
+					} else {
+						buf->st_mode = S_IFLNK;
+					}
+					buf->st_mode |= S_IREAD;
+					if (!(findbuf.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
+						buf->st_mode |= S_IWRITE;
+				}
+				FindClose(handle);
+			}
+		}
 		return 0;
 	}
 	return -1;
@@ -220,12 +242,12 @@ static int do_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
  * complete. Note that Git stat()s are redirected to mingw_lstat()
  * too, since Windows doesn't really handle symlinks that well.
  */
-int mingw_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+static int do_stat_internal(int follow, const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 {
 	int namelen;
 	static char alt_name[PATH_MAX];
 
-	if (!do_lstat(file_name, buf))
+	if (!do_lstat(follow, file_name, buf))
 		return 0;
 
 	/* if file_name ended in a '/', Windows returned ENOENT;
@@ -244,7 +266,16 @@ int mingw_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
 
 	memcpy(alt_name, file_name, namelen);
 	alt_name[namelen] = 0;
-	return do_lstat(alt_name, buf);
+	return do_lstat(follow, alt_name, buf);
+}
+
+int mingw_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+{
+	return do_stat_internal(0, file_name, buf);
+}
+int mingw_stat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+{
+	return do_stat_internal(1, file_name, buf);
 }
 
 #undef fstat
@@ -873,6 +904,11 @@ void mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
 	free_path_split(path);
 }
 
+void mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
+{
+	mingw_execve(cmd, argv, environ);
+}
+
 static char **copy_environ(void)
 {
 	char **env;
@@ -1386,6 +1422,7 @@ void mingw_open_html(const char *unixpath)
 			const char *, const char *, const char *, INT);
 	T ShellExecute;
 	HMODULE shell32;
+	int r;
 
 	shell32 = LoadLibrary("shell32.dll");
 	if (!shell32)
@@ -1395,9 +1432,12 @@ void mingw_open_html(const char *unixpath)
 		die("cannot run browser");
 
 	printf("Launching default browser to display HTML ...\n");
-	ShellExecute(NULL, "open", htmlpath, NULL, "\\", 0);
-
+	r = (int)ShellExecute(NULL, "open", htmlpath, NULL, "\\", SW_SHOWNORMAL);
 	FreeLibrary(shell32);
+	/* see the MSDN documentation referring to the result codes here */
+	if (r <= 32) {
+		die("failed to launch browser for %.*s", MAX_PATH, unixpath);
+	}
 }
 
 int link(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath)
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 3b2477be5f..83e35e833b 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -6,17 +6,30 @@
  */
 
 typedef int pid_t;
+typedef int uid_t;
 #define hstrerror strerror
 
 #define S_IFLNK    0120000 /* Symbolic link */
 #define S_ISLNK(x) (((x) & S_IFMT) == S_IFLNK)
 #define S_ISSOCK(x) 0
+
+#ifndef _STAT_H_
+#define S_IRUSR 0
+#define S_IWUSR 0
+#define S_IXUSR 0
+#define S_IRWXU (S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR)
+#endif
 #define S_IRGRP 0
 #define S_IWGRP 0
 #define S_IXGRP 0
-#define S_ISGID 0
+#define S_IRWXG (S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP | S_IXGRP)
 #define S_IROTH 0
+#define S_IWOTH 0
 #define S_IXOTH 0
+#define S_IRWXO (S_IROTH | S_IWOTH | S_IXOTH)
+#define S_ISUID 0
+#define S_ISGID 0
+#define S_ISVTX 0
 
 #define WIFEXITED(x) 1
 #define WIFSIGNALED(x) 0
@@ -65,6 +78,12 @@ struct itimerval {
 };
 #define ITIMER_REAL 0
 
+/*
+ * sanitize preprocessor namespace polluted by Windows headers defining
+ * macros which collide with git local versions
+ */
+#undef HELP_COMMAND /* from winuser.h */
+
 /*
  * trivial stubs
  */
@@ -75,17 +94,17 @@ static inline int symlink(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath)
 { errno = ENOSYS; return -1; }
 static inline int fchmod(int fildes, mode_t mode)
 { errno = ENOSYS; return -1; }
-static inline int fork(void)
+static inline pid_t fork(void)
 { errno = ENOSYS; return -1; }
 static inline unsigned int alarm(unsigned int seconds)
 { return 0; }
 static inline int fsync(int fd)
 { return _commit(fd); }
-static inline int getppid(void)
+static inline pid_t getppid(void)
 { return 1; }
 static inline void sync(void)
 {}
-static inline int getuid()
+static inline uid_t getuid(void)
 { return 1; }
 static inline struct passwd *getpwnam(const char *name)
 { return NULL; }
@@ -117,7 +136,7 @@ static inline int mingw_unlink(const char *pathname)
 }
 #define unlink mingw_unlink
 
-static inline int waitpid(pid_t pid, int *status, unsigned options)
+static inline pid_t waitpid(pid_t pid, int *status, unsigned options)
 {
 	if (options == 0)
 		return _cwait(status, pid, 0);
@@ -158,7 +177,7 @@ int poll(struct pollfd *ufds, unsigned int nfds, int timeout);
 struct tm *gmtime_r(const time_t *timep, struct tm *result);
 struct tm *localtime_r(const time_t *timep, struct tm *result);
 int getpagesize(void);	/* defined in MinGW's libgcc.a */
-struct passwd *getpwuid(int uid);
+struct passwd *getpwuid(uid_t uid);
 int setitimer(int type, struct itimerval *in, struct itimerval *out);
 int sigaction(int sig, struct sigaction *in, struct sigaction *out);
 int link(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath);
@@ -222,10 +241,11 @@ int mingw_getpagesize(void);
 #ifndef ALREADY_DECLARED_STAT_FUNCS
 #define stat _stati64
 int mingw_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf);
+int mingw_stat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf);
 int mingw_fstat(int fd, struct stat *buf);
 #define fstat mingw_fstat
 #define lstat mingw_lstat
-#define _stati64(x,y) mingw_lstat(x,y)
+#define _stati64(x,y) mingw_stat(x,y)
 #endif
 
 int mingw_utime(const char *file_name, const struct utimbuf *times);
@@ -236,6 +256,8 @@ pid_t mingw_spawnvpe(const char *cmd, const char **argv, char **env,
 		     int fhin, int fhout, int fherr);
 void mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
 #define execvp mingw_execvp
+void mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
+#define execv mingw_execv
 
 static inline unsigned int git_ntohl(unsigned int x)
 { return (unsigned int)ntohl(x); }
diff --git a/git-am.sh b/git-am.sh
index e7f008c7ba..9317b38935 100755
--- a/git-am.sh
+++ b/git-am.sh
@@ -444,12 +444,12 @@ else
 				set x
 				first=
 			}
-			case "$arg" in
-			/*)
-				set "$@" "$arg" ;;
-			*)
-				set "$@" "$prefix$arg" ;;
-			esac
+			if is_absolute_path "$arg"
+			then
+				set "$@" "$arg"
+			else
+				set "$@" "$prefix$arg"
+			fi
 		done
 		shift
 	fi
diff --git a/git-merge-octopus.sh b/git-merge-octopus.sh
index 615753c83c..8643f74cb0 100755
--- a/git-merge-octopus.sh
+++ b/git-merge-octopus.sh
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ do
 	esac
 
 	eval pretty_name=\${GITHEAD_$SHA1:-$SHA1}
+	if test "$SHA1" = "$pretty_name"
+	then
+		SHA1_UP="$(echo "$SHA1" | tr a-z A-Z)"
+		eval pretty_name=\${GITHEAD_$SHA1_UP:-$pretty_name}
+	fi
 	common=$(git merge-base --all $SHA1 $MRC) ||
 		die "Unable to find common commit with $pretty_name"
 
diff --git a/git-sh-setup.sh b/git-sh-setup.sh
index 6131670860..58d30c9388 100644
--- a/git-sh-setup.sh
+++ b/git-sh-setup.sh
@@ -209,5 +209,20 @@ case $(uname -s) in
 	find () {
 		/usr/bin/find "$@"
 	}
+	is_absolute_path () {
+		case "$1" in
+		[/\\]* | [A-Za-z]:*)
+			return 0 ;;
+		esac
+		return 1
+	}
 	;;
+*)
+	is_absolute_path () {
+		case "$1" in
+		/*)
+			return 0 ;;
+		esac
+		return 1
+	}
 esac
diff --git a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
index 074f2f2e3e..d0ab8ffe1b 100755
--- a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
+++ b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
@@ -701,13 +701,13 @@ cat >expect <<\EOF
 	trailingtilde = foo~
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'set --path' '
+test_expect_success NOT_MINGW 'set --path' '
 	git config --path path.home "~/" &&
 	git config --path path.normal "/dev/null" &&
 	git config --path path.trailingtilde "foo~" &&
 	test_cmp expect .git/config'
 
-if test "${HOME+set}"
+if test_have_prereq NOT_MINGW && test "${HOME+set}"
 then
 	test_set_prereq HOMEVAR
 fi
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ cat >expect <<\EOF
 foo~
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'get --path copes with unset $HOME' '
+test_expect_success NOT_MINGW 'get --path copes with unset $HOME' '
 	(
 		unset HOME;
 		test_must_fail git config --get --path path.home \
diff --git a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
index 27bfba55bd..cff1b3e050 100755
--- a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
+++ b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ test_expect_success 'git archive with --output' \
     'git archive --output=b4.tar HEAD &&
     test_cmp b.tar b4.tar'
 
-test_expect_success 'git archive --remote' \
+test_expect_success NOT_MINGW 'git archive --remote' \
     'git archive --remote=. HEAD >b5.tar &&
     test_cmp b.tar b5.tar'
 
diff --git a/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh b/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
index 8a298a655f..b6b1fc30cd 100755
--- a/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
+++ b/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
@@ -4,14 +4,9 @@ test_description='test automatic tag following'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-case $(uname -s) in
-*MINGW*)
+if !test_have_prereq NOT_MINGW; then
 	say "GIT_DEBUG_SEND_PACK not supported - skipping tests"
-	;;
-*)
-	test_set_prereq NOT_MINGW
-	;;
-esac
+fi
 
 # End state of the repository:
 #
diff --git a/t/t5560-http-backend-noserver.sh b/t/t5560-http-backend-noserver.sh
index 44885b850c..406432e7a5 100755
--- a/t/t5560-http-backend-noserver.sh
+++ b/t/t5560-http-backend-noserver.sh
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ test_description='test git-http-backend-noserver'
 
 HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH="$TRASH_DIRECTORY"
 
+test_have_prereq MINGW && export GREP_OPTIONS=-U
+
 run_backend() {
 	echo "$2" |
 	QUERY_STRING="${1#*\?}" \
-	GIT_PROJECT_ROOT="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH" \
-	PATH_INFO="${1%%\?*}" \
+	PATH_TRANSLATED="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/${1%%\?*}" \
 	git http-backend >act.out 2>act.err
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t6038-merge-text-auto.sh b/t/t6038-merge-text-auto.sh
index 52d0dc4bb8..460bf741b5 100755
--- a/t/t6038-merge-text-auto.sh
+++ b/t/t6038-merge-text-auto.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ test_description='CRLF merge conflict across text=auto change
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+test_have_prereq MINGW && SED_OPTIONS=-b
+
 test_expect_success setup '
 	git config core.autocrlf false &&
 
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 
 test_expect_success 'set up fuzz_conflict() helper' '
 	fuzz_conflict() {
-		sed -e "s/^\([<>=]......\) .*/\1/" "$@"
+		sed $SED_OPTIONS -e "s/^\([<>=]......\) .*/\1/" "$@"
 	}
 '
 
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 830e5e7360..2af8f10c83 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -970,11 +970,13 @@ case $(uname -s) in
 	# no POSIX permissions
 	# backslashes in pathspec are converted to '/'
 	# exec does not inherit the PID
+	test_set_prereq MINGW
 	;;
 *)
 	test_set_prereq POSIXPERM
 	test_set_prereq BSLASHPSPEC
 	test_set_prereq EXECKEEPSPID
+	test_set_prereq NOT_MINGW
 	;;
 esac