diff --git a/doc/devel/gitwash/development_workflow.rst b/doc/devel/gitwash/development_workflow.rst
index c392f8b4b9dd..ef2429082a3a 100644
--- a/doc/devel/gitwash/development_workflow.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/gitwash/development_workflow.rst
@@ -29,8 +29,14 @@ Making a new feature branch
 
 ::
 
-   git branch my-new-feature
-   git checkout my-new-feature
+   git checkout -b my-new-feature master
+
+This will create and immediately check out a feature branch based on
+``master``.  To create a feature branch based on a maintenance branch,
+use::
+
+   git fetch origin
+   git checkout -b my-new-feature origin/v1.0.x
 
 Generally, you will want to keep this also on your public github_ fork
 of matplotlib_.  To do this, you `git push`_ this new branch up to your github_
@@ -40,13 +46,16 @@ by default), git will have a link to your github_ repo, called
 
    git push origin my-new-feature
 
-In git >1.7 you can ensure that the link is correctly set by using the
-``--set-upstream`` option::
+You will need to use this exact command, rather than simply ``git
+push`` every time you want to push changes on your feature branch to
+your github_ repo.  However, in git >1.7 you can set up a link by
+using the ``--set-upstream`` option::
 
    git push --set-upstream origin my-new-feature
 
-From now on git_ will know that ``my-new-feature`` is related to the
-``my-new-feature`` branch in the github_ repo.
+and then next time you need to push changes to your branch a simple
+``git push`` will suffice. Note that ``git push`` pushes out all
+branches that are linked to a remote branch.
 
 The editing workflow
 ====================
@@ -73,12 +82,12 @@ In more detail
      #   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
      #   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
      #
-     #	modified:   README
+     #  modified:   README
      #
      # Untracked files:
      #   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
      #
-     #	INSTALL
+     #  INSTALL
      no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
 
 #. Check what the actual changes are with ``git diff`` (`git diff`_).
@@ -125,7 +134,7 @@ without interfering with the output from the comparison.  More detail?
 Note the three dots in the URL above (``master...my-new-feature``) and
 see :ref:`dot2-dot3`.
 
-Asking for your changes to be merged with the main repo
+Asking for your changes to be merged into the main repo
 =======================================================
 
 When you are ready to ask for the merge of your code:
@@ -140,10 +149,16 @@ When you are ready to ask for the merge of your code:
    recipient.  The message will go to the `matplotlib mailing list`_.  Please
    feel free to add others from the list as you like.
 
-Merging from trunk
-==================
+#. If the branch is to be merged into a maintenance branch on the main
+   repo, make sure the "base branch" indicates the maintenance branch
+   and not master.  Github can not automatically determine the branch
+   to merge into.
 
-This updates your code from the upstream `matplotlib github`_  repo.
+Staying up to date with changes in the central repository
+=========================================================
+
+This updates your working copy from the upstream `matplotlib github`_
+repo.
 
 Overview
 --------
@@ -155,7 +170,7 @@ Overview
    # pull changes from github
    git fetch upstream
    # merge from upstream
-   git merge upstream/master
+   git merge --ff-only upstream/master
 
 In detail
 ---------
@@ -175,7 +190,72 @@ the upstream repo to a copy on your local machine::
 
 then merging into your current branch::
 
-   git merge upstream/master
+   git merge --ff-only upstream/master
+
+The ``--ff-only`` option guarantees that if you have mistakenly
+committed code on your ``master`` branch, the merge fails at this point.
+If you were to merge ``upstream/master`` to your ``master``, you
+would start to diverge from the upstream. If this command fails, see
+the section on accidents_.
+
+The letters 'ff' in ``--ff-only`` mean 'fast forward', which is a
+special case of merge where git can simply update your branch to point
+to the other branch and not do any actual merging of files. For
+``master`` and other integration branches this is exactly what you
+want.
+
+Other integration branches
+--------------------------
+
+Some people like to keep separate local branches corresponding to the
+maintenance branches on github. At the time of this writing, ``v1.0.x``
+is the active maintenance branch. If you have such a local branch,
+treat is just as ``master``: don't commit on it, and before starting
+new branches off of it, update it from upstream::
+
+   git checkout v1.0.x
+   git fetch upstream
+   git merge --ff-only upstream/v1.0.x
+
+But you don't necessarily have to have such a branch. Instead, if you
+are preparing a bugfix that applies to the maintenance branch, fetch
+from upstream and base your bugfix on the remote branch::
+
+   git fetch upstream
+   git checkout -b my-bug-fix upstream/v1.0.x
+
+.. _accidents:
+
+Recovering from accidental commits on master
+--------------------------------------------
+
+If you have accidentally committed changes on ``master`` and
+``git merge --ff-only`` fails, don't panic! First find out how much
+you have diverged::
+
+   git diff upstream/master...master
+
+If you find that you want simply to get rid of the changes, reset
+your ``master`` branch to the upstream version::
+
+   git reset --hard upstream/master
+
+As you might surmise from the words 'reset' and 'hard', this command
+actually causes your changes to the current branch to be lost, so
+think twice.
+
+If, on the other hand, you find that you want to preserve the changes,
+create a feature branch for them::
+
+   git checkout -b my-important-changes
+
+Now ``my-important-changes`` points to the branch that has your
+changes, and you can safely reset ``master`` as above |emdash| but
+make sure to reset the correct branch::
+
+   git checkout master
+   git reset --hard upstream/master
+
 
 Deleting a branch on github_
 ============================
diff --git a/doc/devel/gitwash/set_up_fork.rst b/doc/devel/gitwash/set_up_fork.rst
index cf4d77e258f6..0ebc5f32ced6 100644
--- a/doc/devel/gitwash/set_up_fork.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/gitwash/set_up_fork.rst
@@ -56,12 +56,17 @@ Note that we've used ``git://`` for the URL rather than ``git@``.  The
 (or deliberately) write to the upstream repo, and we are only going to
 use it to merge into our own code.
 
+Note this command needs to be run on every clone of the repository
+that you make.  It is not tracked in your personal repository on
+github_.
+
 Just for your own satisfaction, show yourself that you now have a new
 'remote', with ``git remote -v show``, giving you something like::
 
-   upstream	git://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git (fetch)
-   upstream	git://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git (push)
-   origin	git@github.com:your-user-name/matplotlib.git (fetch)
-   origin	git@github.com:your-user-name/matplotlib.git (push)
+   upstream     git://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git (fetch)
+   upstream     git://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git (push)
+   origin       git@github.com:your-user-name/matplotlib.git (fetch)
+   origin       git@github.com:your-user-name/matplotlib.git (push)
 
 .. include:: links.inc
+