Question about 'odd' messages when running git pull -r

[James]

Hello,

Occasionally when i run 'git pull -r' in a terminal I get the following

> address@hidden:~/lilypond-git$ git pull -r
> usage: git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
>
>     -a, --all             outputs all common ancestors
>
> usage: git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
>
>     -a, --all             outputs all common ancestors
>
> usage: git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
>
>     -a, --all             outputs all common ancestors

this continues on for a while and then it seems to complete ok for 
instance just now I got...

> usage: git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
>
>     -a, --all             outputs all common ancestors
>
> usage: git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
>
>     -a, --all             outputs all common ancestors
>
> remote: Counting objects: 31, done.
> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (18/18), done.
> remote: Total 18 (delta 15), reused 0 (delta 0)
> Unpacking objects: 100% (18/18), done.
> From git://git.sv.gnu.org/lilypond
>    15cc5b8..81fca6d  master     -> origin/master
> First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
> Fast-forwarded HEAD to 81fca6d4550f635d4846f13cb504d4cb05e3ef59.
> address@hidden:~/lilypond-git$

I just wondered why I am getting these 'usage' prompts. I even did a 
clean install of the whole repository a few days ago to see if this was 
just 'one of those things' but it seems that it comes and goes.

It's not a big deal but I wondered if anyone had had the same issues?

James