1 files changed, 11 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 1823db135e..7349ffea5a 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -1389,7 +1389,17 @@ sub cmd_multi_init {
 		usage(1);
 	}
 
-	$_prefix = '' unless defined $_prefix;
+	unless (defined $_prefix) {
+		$_prefix = '';
+		warn <<EOF
+WARNING: --prefix is not given, defaulting to empty prefix.
+         This is probably not what you want! In order to stay compatible
+         with regular remote-tracking refs, provide a prefix like
+         --prefix=origin/ (remember the trailing slash), which will cause
+         the SVN-tracking refs to be placed at refs/remotes/origin/*.
+NOTE: In Git v2.0, the default prefix will change from empty to 'origin/'.
+EOF
+	}
 	if (defined $url) {
 		$url = canonicalize_url($url);
 		init_subdir(@_);