diff --git a/Documentation/merge-options.txt b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
index e33e0f8e11..b613d4ed08 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
@@ -75,9 +75,17 @@ option can be used to override --squash.
 ifndef::git-pull[]
 -q::
 --quiet::
-	Operate quietly.
+	Operate quietly. Implies --no-progress.
 
 -v::
 --verbose::
 	Be verbose.
+
+--progress::
+--no-progress::
+	Turn progress on/off explicitly. If neither is specified,
+	progress is shown if standard error is connected to a terminal.
+	Note that not all merge strategies may support progress
+	reporting.
+
 endif::git-pull[]
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 82092e5c82..de0e111378 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1285,7 +1285,6 @@ static void print_summary(const char *prefix, const unsigned char *sha1)
 	get_commit_format(format.buf, &rev);
 	rev.always_show_header = 0;
 	rev.diffopt.detect_rename = 1;
-	rev.diffopt.rename_limit = 100;
 	rev.diffopt.break_opt = 0;
 	diff_setup_done(&rev.diffopt);
 
diff --git a/builtin/merge.c b/builtin/merge.c
index b4746ee55b..aa3453c5e1 100644
--- a/builtin/merge.c
+++ b/builtin/merge.c
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ static int option_renormalize;
 static int verbosity;
 static int allow_rerere_auto;
 static int abort_current_merge;
+static int show_progress = -1;
 
 static struct strategy all_strategy[] = {
 	{ "recursive",  DEFAULT_TWOHEAD | NO_TRIVIAL },
@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@ static struct option builtin_merge_options[] = {
 	OPT__VERBOSITY(&verbosity),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "abort", &abort_current_merge,
 		"abort the current in-progress merge"),
+	OPT_SET_INT(0, "progress", &show_progress, "force progress reporting", 1),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
@@ -660,6 +662,8 @@ static int try_merge_strategy(const char *strategy, struct commit_list *common,
 			o.subtree_shift = "";
 
 		o.renormalize = option_renormalize;
+		o.show_rename_progress =
+			show_progress == -1 ? isatty(2) : show_progress;
 
 		for (x = 0; x < xopts_nr; x++)
 			if (parse_merge_opt(&o, xopts[x]))
@@ -974,6 +978,9 @@ int cmd_merge(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, builtin_merge_options,
 			builtin_merge_usage, 0);
 
+	if (verbosity < 0 && show_progress == -1)
+		show_progress = 0;
+
 	if (abort_current_merge) {
 		int nargc = 2;
 		const char *nargv[] = {"reset", "--merge", NULL};
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 3fd9e0c703..42a107c58a 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 #endif
 
 static int diff_detect_rename_default;
-static int diff_rename_limit_default = 200;
+static int diff_rename_limit_default = 400;
 static int diff_suppress_blank_empty;
 int diff_use_color_default = -1;
 static const char *diff_word_regex_cfg;
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index 310bd6b283..007a0554d4 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ struct diff_options {
 	int pickaxe_opts;
 	int rename_score;
 	int rename_limit;
-	int warn_on_too_large_rename;
+	int needed_rename_limit;
+	int show_rename_progress;
 	int dirstat_percent;
 	int setup;
 	int abbrev;
diff --git a/diffcore-rename.c b/diffcore-rename.c
index 0cd4c1305b..d40e40a3ac 100644
--- a/diffcore-rename.c
+++ b/diffcore-rename.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "diff.h"
 #include "diffcore.h"
 #include "hash.h"
+#include "progress.h"
 
 /* Table of rename/copy destinations */
 
@@ -449,6 +450,7 @@ void diffcore_rename(struct diff_options *options)
 	struct diff_score *mx;
 	int i, j, rename_count;
 	int num_create, num_src, dst_cnt;
+	struct progress *progress = NULL;
 
 	if (!minimum_score)
 		minimum_score = DEFAULT_RENAME_SCORE;
@@ -518,15 +520,22 @@ void diffcore_rename(struct diff_options *options)
 	 * but handles the potential overflow case specially (and we
 	 * assume at least 32-bit integers)
 	 */
+	options->needed_rename_limit = 0;
 	if (rename_limit <= 0 || rename_limit > 32767)
 		rename_limit = 32767;
 	if ((num_create > rename_limit && num_src > rename_limit) ||
 	    (num_create * num_src > rename_limit * rename_limit)) {
-		if (options->warn_on_too_large_rename)
-			warning("too many files (created: %d deleted: %d), skipping inexact rename detection", num_create, num_src);
+		options->needed_rename_limit =
+			num_src > num_create ? num_src : num_create;
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	if (options->show_rename_progress) {
+		progress = start_progress_delay(
+				"Performing inexact rename detection",
+				rename_dst_nr * rename_src_nr, 50, 1);
+	}
+
 	mx = xcalloc(num_create * NUM_CANDIDATE_PER_DST, sizeof(*mx));
 	for (dst_cnt = i = 0; i < rename_dst_nr; i++) {
 		struct diff_filespec *two = rename_dst[i].two;
@@ -556,7 +565,9 @@ void diffcore_rename(struct diff_options *options)
 			diff_free_filespec_blob(two);
 		}
 		dst_cnt++;
+		display_progress(progress, (i+1)*rename_src_nr);
 	}
+	stop_progress(&progress);
 
 	/* cost matrix sorted by most to least similar pair */
 	qsort(mx, dst_cnt * NUM_CANDIDATE_PER_DST, sizeof(*mx), score_compare);
diff --git a/git-pull.sh b/git-pull.sh
index f6b7b84048..63b063a7b2 100755
--- a/git-pull.sh
+++ b/git-pull.sh
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ do
 		verbosity="$verbosity -v" ;;
 	--progress)
 		progress=--progress ;;
+	--no-progress)
+		progress=--no-progress ;;
 	-n|--no-stat|--no-summary)
 		diffstat=--no-stat ;;
 	--stat|--summary)
@@ -293,8 +295,8 @@ true)
 	;;
 *)
 	eval="git-merge $diffstat $no_commit $squash $no_ff $ff_only"
-	eval="$eval  $log_arg $strategy_args $merge_args"
-	eval="$eval \"\$merge_name\" HEAD $merge_head $verbosity"
+	eval="$eval  $log_arg $strategy_args $merge_args $verbosity $progress"
+	eval="$eval \"\$merge_name\" HEAD $merge_head"
 	;;
 esac
 eval "exec $eval"
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index 3debbc44a0..8e82a8b1a5 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
 #include "dir.h"
 #include "submodule.h"
 
+static const char rename_limit_advice[] =
+"inexact rename detection was skipped because there were too many\n"
+"  files. You may want to set your merge.renamelimit variable to at least\n"
+"  %d and retry this merge.";
+
 static struct tree *shift_tree_object(struct tree *one, struct tree *two,
 				      const char *subtree_shift)
 {
@@ -418,14 +423,16 @@ static struct string_list *get_renames(struct merge_options *o,
 	opts.detect_rename = DIFF_DETECT_RENAME;
 	opts.rename_limit = o->merge_rename_limit >= 0 ? o->merge_rename_limit :
 			    o->diff_rename_limit >= 0 ? o->diff_rename_limit :
-			    500;
+			    1000;
 	opts.rename_score = o->rename_score;
-	opts.warn_on_too_large_rename = 1;
+	opts.show_rename_progress = o->show_rename_progress;
 	opts.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_NO_OUTPUT;
 	if (diff_setup_done(&opts) < 0)
 		die("diff setup failed");
 	diff_tree_sha1(o_tree->object.sha1, tree->object.sha1, "", &opts);
 	diffcore_std(&opts);
+	if (opts.needed_rename_limit > o->needed_rename_limit)
+		o->needed_rename_limit = opts.needed_rename_limit;
 	for (i = 0; i < diff_queued_diff.nr; ++i) {
 		struct string_list_item *item;
 		struct rename *re;
@@ -1649,6 +1656,8 @@ int merge_recursive(struct merge_options *o,
 		commit_list_insert(h2, &(*result)->parents->next);
 	}
 	flush_output(o);
+	if (o->needed_rename_limit)
+		warning(rename_limit_advice, o->needed_rename_limit);
 	return clean;
 }
 
diff --git a/merge-recursive.h b/merge-recursive.h
index 981ed6ac94..7e1e972b13 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.h
+++ b/merge-recursive.h
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ struct merge_options {
 	int diff_rename_limit;
 	int merge_rename_limit;
 	int rename_score;
+	int needed_rename_limit;
+	int show_rename_progress;
 	int call_depth;
 	struct strbuf obuf;
 	struct string_list current_file_set;