diff --git a/merge-conflict b/merge-conflict
index 2725e3521d243c5d754900106e5dff9b05586cc0..12853e314e9a4cc885c53329950974622bd7ab07 100755
--- a/merge-conflict
+++ b/merge-conflict
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ set -eu
 dest="${1:-master}"
 current="$(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD)"
 
-[ "$current" != "$dest" ] || exit
+[ "$current" != "$dest" ] || exit 0
 
-git format-patch "$(git merge-base HEAD "$dest")..$dest" --stdout | git apply --check -
+patch="$(git format-patch "$(git merge-base HEAD "$dest")..$dest" --stdout)"
+
+[ "$patch" != "" ] || exit 0
+
+echo "$patch" | git apply --check -
diff --git a/tests/merge-conflict.bats b/tests/merge-conflict.bats
index 9f5359b5b09b18a7a2f16b58272d3c93389bc077..cf2dd0b4f0aba0276b933732084e4f60c9a6c80e 100755
--- a/tests/merge-conflict.bats
+++ b/tests/merge-conflict.bats
@@ -9,16 +9,16 @@ export repo="$BATS_TMPDIR/testrepo"
         git init "$repo"
         cd "$repo"
         echo 1 > file
-        git -C "$repo" add "$repo/file"
-        git -C "$repo" commit -m "Initial commit."
-        git -C "$repo" checkout -b master2
-        git -C "$repo" checkout -b no-conflict
-        git -C "$repo" checkout -b conflict
-        echo 2 > "$repo/file"
-        git -C "$repo" commit file -m "Conflict with master."
-        git -C "$repo" checkout master
-        echo 3 > "$repo/file"
-        git -C "$repo" commit file -m "Conflict with the conflict branch."
+        git add file
+        git commit -m "Initial commit."
+        git checkout -b master2
+        git checkout -b no-conflict
+        git checkout -b conflict
+        echo 2 > file
+        git commit file -m "Conflict with master."
+        git checkout master
+        echo 3 > file
+        git commit file -m "Conflict with the conflict branch."
     fi
 }