diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2fea115..b35e4ff 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -469,6 +469,10 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),IRIX64)
 	# for now, build 32-bit version
 	BASIC_LDFLAGS += -L/usr/lib32
 endif
+ifeq ($(uname_S),GNU)
+	# GNU stands for GNU/Hurd
+	NO_STRLCPY=YesPlease
+endif
 ifneq (,$(findstring arm,$(uname_M)))
 	ARM_SHA1 = YesPlease
 endif
diff --git a/builtin-add.c b/builtin-add.c
index 5e6748f..3add380 100644
--- a/builtin-add.c
+++ b/builtin-add.c
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ static void fill_directory(struct dir_st
 	path = git_path("info/exclude");
 	if (!access(path, R_OK))
 		add_excludes_from_file(dir, path);
-	if (!access(excludes_file, R_OK))
+	if (excludes_file != NULL
+	    && !access(excludes_file, R_OK))
 		add_excludes_from_file(dir, excludes_file);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 89876bf..1fa8830 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -662,7 +662,12 @@ static struct ref_lock *verify_lock(stru
 
 static int remove_empty_dir_recursive(char *path, int len)
 {
+	fprintf (stderr, "%s: p=%s;l=%d.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__,
+		 path, len);
+
 	DIR *dir = opendir(path);
+	fprintf (stderr, "%s: dir=%x.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__,
+		 dir);
 	struct dirent *e;
 	int ret = 0;
 
@@ -670,17 +675,29 @@ static int remove_empty_dir_recursive(ch
 		return -1;
 	if (path[len-1] != '/')
 		path[len++] = '/';
+
+	fprintf (stderr, "%s-2: p=%s,l=%d.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, path, len);
+
 	while ((e = readdir(dir)) != NULL) {
 		struct stat st;
 		int namlen;
+
+		fprintf (stderr, "%s-2: e=%s.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, e->d_name);
+
 		if ((e->d_name[0] == '.') &&
 		    ((e->d_name[1] == 0) ||
 		     ((e->d_name[1] == '.') && e->d_name[2] == 0)))
 			continue; /* "." and ".." */
 
 		namlen = strlen(e->d_name);
+
+		fprintf (stderr, "%s-2: n=%d,l+n=%d.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, namlen, len + namlen);
+
 		if ((len + namlen < PATH_MAX) &&
 		    strcpy(path + len, e->d_name) &&
+
+		    (fprintf (stderr, "%s-2: p=%s.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, path), 1) &&
+
 		    !lstat(path, &st) &&
 		    S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) &&
 		    !remove_empty_dir_recursive(path, len + namlen))
@@ -710,6 +727,10 @@ static int remove_empty_directories(char
 	if (len >= PATH_MAX) /* path too long ;-) */
 		return -1;
 	strcpy(path, file);
+
+	fprintf (stderr, "%s: f=%s;p=%s;l=%d < %d.\n", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__,
+		 file, path, len, PATH_MAX);
+
 	return remove_empty_dir_recursive(path, len);
 }