- error("remote ref '%s' is not a strict "
- "subset of local ref '%s'.", ref->name,
+ /* We do not have the remote ref, or
+ * we know that the remote ref is not
+ * an ancestor of what we are trying to
+ * push. Either way this can be losing
+ * commits at the remote end and likely
+ * we were not up to date to begin with.
+ */
+ error("remote '%s' is not a strict "
+ "subset of local ref '%s'. "
+ "maybe you are not up-to-date and "
+ "need to pull first?",
+ ref->name,