diff --git a/dev/sync-pending-branches.sh b/dev/sync-pending-branches.sh
index 7537f6c..6358853 100755
--- a/dev/sync-pending-branches.sh
+++ b/dev/sync-pending-branches.sh
@@ -2,8 +2,21 @@
 # Sync remote pending branches locally, and prune merged branches.
 set -e
 
+git_hash() {
+	git rev-parse -q --verify "$@" || true
+}
+
 git fetch origin --prune
 PREVBRANCH="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
 git branch --merged | tr -d ' ' | grep ^pending- | xargs -trn1 git branch -d
-git branch --list -r 'origin/pending-*' --format='%(refname:lstrip=3)' | xargs -trn1 git checkout
+git branch --list -r 'origin/pending-*' --format='%(refname:lstrip=3)' | while read b; do
+	if [ -z "$(git_hash "$b")" ]; then
+		git checkout "$b"
+	fi
+done
 git checkout "$PREVBRANCH"
+git branch --list 'pending-*'  --format='%(refname:lstrip=2)' | while read b; do
+	if [ "$(git_hash "$b")" != "$(git_hash "origin/$b")" ]; then
+		echo >&2 "WARNING: Local $b ($(git_hash "$b")) differs from remote $b ($(git_hash "origin/$b"))"
+	fi
+done