diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 9de970d..4b6bd0a 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -7,5 +7,8 @@
 - Randy Merrill
 - Rick Osborne
 - Mark Derricutt
+- Nowell Strite
+- Felipe Talavera
+- Guillaume-Jean Herbiet
 
 Portions derived from other open source works are clearly marked.
diff --git a/Changes.mdown b/Changes.mdown
index c7b92c8..fe62f34 100644
--- a/Changes.mdown
+++ b/Changes.mdown
@@ -1,3 +1,21 @@
+0.4:
+---
+Release date: **2010/10/18**
+
+* The flag parsing issues of git-flow subcommands are solved for most
+  platforms.
+
+* `git flow {feature,hotfix,release} finish` now takes a `-k` flag, to keep the
+  branch around after finishing.
+
+* `git flow release finish` takes a `-n` flag, to skip tagging.
+
+* For consistency, `git flow {release,hotfix}` now, too, have a `publish` and
+  `track` subcommand, just like `feature`.
+
+* Various minor fixes.
+
+
 0.3:
 ----
 Release date: **2010/07/22**
diff --git a/README.mdown b/README.mdown
index 35bd90a..ecaa11a 100644
--- a/README.mdown
+++ b/README.mdown
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@
 
 	$ wget -q -O - http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/raw/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh | sudo sh
 
+For __OSX__ users, the `wget` command isn't available by default, but `curl` is, so you can run:
+
+	$ curl http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/raw/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh | sudo sh
+
+For __Windows__ users who wish to use the automated install, it is suggested that you install [Cygwin](http://www.cygwin.com/)
+first to install tools like sh and wget. Then simply follow the command:
+
+	c:\Users\<user> wget -q -O - http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/raw/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh | sh
+
 If you prefer a manual installation, please use the following instructions.
 After downloading the sources from Github, also fetch the submodules:
 
@@ -30,20 +39,91 @@
 Or simply point your `PATH` environment variable to your git-flow checkout
 directory.
 
+*Installation note:*  
+git-flow depends on the availability of the command line utility `getopt`,
+which may not be available in your Unix/Linux environment.  Please use your
+favorite package manager to install `getopt`.  For Cygwin, install the
+`util-linux` package to get `getopt`.  If you use `apt-get` as your install
+manager, the package name is `opt`.
+
 
 Integration with your shell
 ---------------------------
-For those who use the [Bash](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) shell, please
-check out the excellent work on the
+For those who use the [Bash](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) or
+[ZSH](http://www.zsh.org) shell, please check out the excellent work on the
 [git-flow-completion](http://github.com/bobthecow/git-flow-completion) project
 by [bobthecow](http://github.com/bobthecow). It offers tab-completion for all
 git-flow subcommands and branch names.
 
-If you are a [zsh](http://www.zsh.org) user with some plugin-writing
-experience, please help us develop a
-[completion plugin](http://github.com/bobthecow/git-flow-completion/issues#issue/1)
-for zsh, too.  Please contact me on [Github](http://github.com/inbox/new/nvie)
-or [Twitter](http://twitter.com/nvie) to discuss details.
+For Windows users, [msysgit](http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/) is a good
+starting place for installing git.
+
+
+FAQ
+---
+* **Can I still do manual branches and merges when I use git-flow?**  
+  Of course you can. `git-flow` does not forbid you to keep using vanilla Git
+  commands!
+
+  So if you want to merge `master` into `develop` for whatever reason you want
+  to, you can safely do so without breaking `git-flow` compatibility.  Do you
+  want to manually merge a feature branch X into another feature branch Y?  Not
+  a problem.  As long as you do it conciously and realize what this means for
+  finishing those branches later on.
+
+* **Why does git-describe not work for me?**  
+  When finishing release and hotfix branches, that branch's HEAD is first
+  merged into `master` and then into `develop`.  It is not the resulting new
+  merge commit from `master` that is merged back into `develop`.  This means
+  that a linear path from the new `develop` branch to the new `master` commit
+  is not created.  Even worse, a linear path is created from the new `develop`
+  branch to the *previous* `master` commit.  Although unintended, this is
+  simply an effect of using the current branching rules.
+
+  When using `git-describe` in these cases, you can get very confusing and
+  misleading results, since `git-describe` scans the current commits linear
+  history for the most recent tag it finds, which will always be the *previous*
+  tag.
+
+  I will change this behaviour in the next version of the branching model
+  explicitly and I will include this behavioural change in the first version of
+  the Python rewrite.
+
+  For more references to this problem, see:
+
+  - Issue [#49](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/49)
+  - These
+  	[two](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users/browse\_thread/thread/9920a7df3d1c4908/0bb18a0bf7275ad6#0bb18a0bf7275ad6)
+  	[discussions](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users/browse\_thread/thread/19efac724bb6418a)
+	on the [git-flow-users](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users)
+	mailinglist.
+
+* **I'm getting errors when I use flags with git-flow!**  
+  `git-flow` uses the [shFlags](http://code.google.com/p/shflags/) library to
+  provide platform independent flag parsing (using wichever low-level flag
+  parsing libraries like `getopt` or `getopts` are available).  However,
+  `shFlags` does not work too well on a few platforms that haven't been tested
+  originally.  This results in errors like this:
+
+      flags:WARN getopt: option invalide -- 'f' -- 'init' flags:FATAL unable to parse provided options with getopt
+
+  The platforms that suffer these errors include:
+
+  - Gentoo
+  - Ubuntu
+  - Redhat Enterprise Linux
+
+  There are open issues related to this:
+  [#28](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/28) and
+  [#39](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/39). Unfortunately, there is no
+  simple fix for it and all hope is placed on the Python rewrite of `git-flow`,
+  see issue [#33](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/33).
+
+* **Can I use it with Windows?**  
+  There have been reports of Windows users using `git-flow`.
+  <del>Un</del>fortunately, I have no Windows environment to test it on, but
+  this [issue](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/issue/25) should be
+  helpful in setting it up.
 
 
 Please help out
@@ -57,7 +137,7 @@
 contributors, please see the [AUTHORS](AUTHORS) file.
 
 Any questions, tips, or general discussion can be posted to our Google group:
-http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users
+[http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users)
 
 
 License terms
@@ -71,6 +151,11 @@
 
 Typical usage:
 --------------
+For the best introduction to get started to `git flow`, please read Jeff
+Kreeftmeijer's blog post:
+
+[http://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/2010/why-arent-you-using-git-flow/](http://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/2010/why-arent-you-using-git-flow/)
+
 
 ### Initialization
 
@@ -117,3 +202,17 @@
   
   For support branches, the `<base>` arg must be a commit on `master`.
 
+
+Showing your appreciation
+=========================
+A few people already requested it, so now it's here: a Flattr button.
+
+Of course, the best way to show your appreciation for the original
+[blog post](http://nvie.com/git-model) or the git-flow tool itself remains
+contributing to the community.  If you'd like to show your appreciation in
+another way, however, consider Flattr'ing me:
+
+[![Flattr this][2]][1]
+
+[1]: http://flattr.com/thing/53771/git-flow
+[2]: http://api.flattr.com/button/button-static-50x60.png
diff --git a/git-flow b/git-flow
index e95d4ad..fa87e71 100755
--- a/git-flow
+++ b/git-flow
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@
 	# load common functionality
 	. "$GITFLOW_DIR/gitflow-common"
 
+	# This environmental variable fixes non-POSIX getopt style argument
+	# parsing, effectively breaking git-flow subcommand parsing on several
+	# Linux platforms.
+	export POSIXLY_CORRECT=1
+
 	# use the shFlags project to parse the command line arguments
 	. "$GITFLOW_DIR/gitflow-shFlags"
 	FLAGS_PARENT="git flow"
diff --git a/git-flow-feature b/git-flow-feature
index 2fdba25..8893598 100644
--- a/git-flow-feature
+++ b/git-flow-feature
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 usage() {
 	echo "usage: git flow feature [list] [-v]"
 	echo "       git flow feature start [-F] <name> [<base>]"
-	echo "       git flow feature finish [-rF] <name|nameprefix>"
+	echo "       git flow feature finish [-rFk] <name|nameprefix>"
 	echo "       git flow feature publish <name>"
 	echo "       git flow feature track <name>"
 	echo "       git flow feature diff [<name|nameprefix>]"
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
 		warn ""
 		exit 0
 	fi
-	current_branch=$(git branch | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
+	current_branch=$(git branch --no-color | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
 	short_names=$(echo "$feature_branches" | sed "s ^$PREFIX  g")
 
 	# determine column width first
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@
 	parse_cmdline "$@"
 
 	# read arguments into global variables
-	NAME=$1
+	NAME=$(last_arg "$@")
 	BRANCH=$PREFIX$NAME
 }
 
@@ -231,7 +231,8 @@
 
 cmd_finish() {
 	DEFINE_boolean fetch false "fetch from $ORIGIN before performing finish" F
-	DEFINE_boolean rebase false 'rebase instead of merge' r
+	DEFINE_boolean rebase false "rebase instead of merge" r
+	DEFINE_boolean keep false "keep branch after performing finish" k
 	parse_args "$@"
 	expand_nameprefix_arg
 
@@ -343,13 +344,21 @@
 	if flag fetch; then
 		git push "$ORIGIN" ":refs/heads/$BRANCH"
 	fi
-	git branch -D "$BRANCH"
+	
+	
+	if noflag keep; then
+		git branch -d "$BRANCH"
+	fi
 
 	echo
 	echo "Summary of actions:"
 	echo "- The feature branch '$BRANCH' was merged into '$DEVELOP_BRANCH'"
 	#echo "- Merge conflicts were resolved"		# TODO: Add this line when it's supported
-	echo "- Feature branch '$BRANCH' has been removed"
+	if flag keep; then
+		echo "- Feature branch '$BRANCH' is still available"
+	else
+		echo "- Feature branch '$BRANCH' has been removed"
+	fi
 	echo "- You are now on branch '$DEVELOP_BRANCH'"
 	echo
 }
diff --git a/git-flow-hotfix b/git-flow-hotfix
index 390e537..a675619 100644
--- a/git-flow-hotfix
+++ b/git-flow-hotfix
@@ -39,13 +39,13 @@
 require_git_repo
 require_gitflow_initialized
 gitflow_load_settings
-VERSION_PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag)
+VERSION_PREFIX=$(eval "echo `git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag`")
 PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.hotfix)
 
 usage() {
 	echo "usage: git flow hotfix [list] [-v]"
 	echo "       git flow hotfix start [-F] <version> [<base>]"
-	echo "       git flow hotfix finish [-Fsump] <version>"
+	echo "       git flow hotfix finish [-Fsumpk] <version>"
 }
 
 cmd_default() {
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
                 warn ""
 		exit 0
 	fi
-	current_branch=$(git branch | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
+	current_branch=$(git branch --no-color | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
 	short_names=$(echo "$hotfix_branches" | sed "s ^$PREFIX  g")
 
 	# determine column width first
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
 	eval set -- "${FLAGS_ARGV}"
 
 	# read arguments into global variables
-	VERSION=$1
+	VERSION=$(last_arg "$@")
 	BRANCH=$PREFIX$VERSION
 }
 
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@
 }
 
 require_base_is_on_master() {
-	if ! git branch --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
+	if ! git branch --no-color --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
 			| sed 's/[* ] //g' \
 	  		| grep -q "^$MASTER_BRANCH\$"; then
 		die "fatal: Given base '$BASE' is not a valid commit on '$MASTER_BRANCH'."
@@ -194,6 +194,8 @@
 	DEFINE_string signingkey "" "use the given GPG-key for the digital signature (implies -s)" u
 	DEFINE_string message "" "use the given tag message" m
 	DEFINE_boolean push false "push to $ORIGIN after performing finish" p
+	DEFINE_boolean keep false "keep branch after performing finish" k
+	DEFINE_boolean notag false "don't tag this release" n
 	parse_args "$@"
 	require_version_arg
 
@@ -229,17 +231,19 @@
 		  # TODO: What do we do now?
 	fi
 
-	# try to tag the release
-	# in case a previous attempt to finish this release branch has failed,
-	# but the tag was set successful, we skip it now
-	local tagname=$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION
-	if ! git_tag_exists "$tagname"; then
-		local opts="-a"
-		flag sign && opts="$opts -s"
-		[ "$FLAGS_signingkey" != "" ] && opts="$opts -u '$FLAGS_signingkey'"
-		[ "$FLAGS_message" != "" ] && opts="$opts -m '$FLAGS_message'"
-		git tag $opts "$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION" || \
-		  die "Tagging failed. Please run finish again to retry."
+	if noflag notag; then
+		# try to tag the release
+		# in case a previous attempt to finish this release branch has failed,
+		# but the tag was set successful, we skip it now
+		local tagname=$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION
+		if ! git_tag_exists "$tagname"; then
+			local opts="-a"
+			flag sign && opts="$opts -s"
+			[ "$FLAGS_signingkey" != "" ] && opts="$opts -u '$FLAGS_signingkey'"
+			[ "$FLAGS_message" != "" ] && opts="$opts -m '$FLAGS_message'"
+			git tag $opts "$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION" || \
+			die "Tagging failed. Please run finish again to retry."
+		fi
 	fi
 
 	# try to merge into develop
@@ -257,24 +261,34 @@
 	fi
 
 	# delete branch
-	git branch -d "$BRANCH"
+	if noflag keep; then
+		git branch -d "$BRANCH"
+	fi
 
 	if flag push; then
 		git push "$ORIGIN" "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" || \
 			die "Could not push to $DEVELOP_BRANCH from $ORIGIN."
 		git push "$ORIGIN" "$MASTER_BRANCH" || \
 			die "Could not push to $MASTER_BRANCH from $ORIGIN."
-		git push --tags "$ORIGIN" || \
-			die "Could not push tags to $ORIGIN."
+		if noflag notag; then
+			git push --tags "$ORIGIN" || \
+				die "Could not push tags to $ORIGIN."
+		fi
 	fi
 
 	echo
 	echo "Summary of actions:"
 	echo "- Latest objects have been fetched from '$ORIGIN'"
 	echo "- Hotfix branch has been merged into '$MASTER_BRANCH'"
-	echo "- The hotfix was tagged '$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION'"
+	if noflag notag; then
+		echo "- The hotfix was tagged '$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION'"
+	fi
 	echo "- Hotfix branch has been back-merged into '$DEVELOP_BRANCH'"
-	echo "- Hotfix branch '$BRANCH' has been deleted"
+	if flag keep; then
+		echo "- Hotfix branch '$BRANCH' is still available"
+	else
+		echo "- Hotfix branch '$BRANCH' has been deleted"
+	fi
 	if flag push; then
 		echo "- '$DEVELOP_BRANCH', '$MASTER_BRANCH' and tags have been pushed to '$ORIGIN'"
 	fi
diff --git a/git-flow-release b/git-flow-release
index b998673..aea6e42 100644
--- a/git-flow-release
+++ b/git-flow-release
@@ -39,13 +39,15 @@
 require_git_repo
 require_gitflow_initialized
 gitflow_load_settings
-VERSION_PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag)
+VERSION_PREFIX=$(eval "echo `git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag`")
 PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.release)
 
 usage() {
 	echo "usage: git flow release [list] [-v]"
 	echo "       git flow release start [-F] <version>"
-	echo "       git flow release finish [-Fsump] <version>"
+	echo "       git flow release finish [-Fsumpk] <version>"
+	echo "       git flow release publish <name>"
+	echo "       git flow release track <name>"
 }
 
 cmd_default() {
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@
 		exit 0
 	fi
 
-	current_branch=$(git branch | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
+	current_branch=$(git branch --no-color | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
 	short_names=$(echo "$release_branches" | sed "s ^$PREFIX  g")
 
 	# determine column width first
@@ -119,7 +121,7 @@
 	eval set -- "${FLAGS_ARGV}"
 
 	# read arguments into global variables
-	VERSION=$1
+	VERSION=$(last_arg "$@")
 	BRANCH=$PREFIX$VERSION
 }
 
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@
 }
 
 require_base_is_on_develop() {
-	if ! git branch --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
+	if ! git branch --no-color --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
 			| sed 's/[* ] //g' \
 	  		| grep -q "^$DEVELOP_BRANCH\$"; then
 		die "fatal: Given base '$BASE' is not a valid commit on '$DEVELOP_BRANCH'."
@@ -189,6 +191,8 @@
 	DEFINE_string signingkey "" "use the given GPG-key for the digital signature (implies -s)" u
 	DEFINE_string message "" "use the given tag message" m
 	DEFINE_boolean push false "push to $ORIGIN after performing finish" p
+	DEFINE_boolean keep false "keep branch after performing finish" k
+	DEFINE_boolean notag false "don't tag this release" n
 
 	parse_args "$@"
 	require_version_arg
@@ -225,17 +229,19 @@
 		  # TODO: What do we do now?
 	fi
 
-	# try to tag the release
-	# in case a previous attempt to finish this release branch has failed,
-	# but the tag was set successful, we skip it now
-	local tagname=$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION
-	if ! git_tag_exists "$tagname"; then
-		local opts="-a"
-		flag sign && opts="$opts -s"
-		[ "$FLAGS_signingkey" != "" ] && opts="$opts -u '$FLAGS_signingkey'"
-		[ "$FLAGS_message" != "" ] && opts="$opts -m '$FLAGS_message'"
-		git tag $opts "$tagname" || \
-		  die "Tagging failed. Please run finish again to retry."
+	if noflag notag; then
+		# try to tag the release
+		# in case a previous attempt to finish this release branch has failed,
+		# but the tag was set successful, we skip it now
+		local tagname=$VERSION_PREFIX$VERSION
+		if ! git_tag_exists "$tagname"; then
+			local opts="-a"
+			flag sign && opts="$opts -s"
+			[ "$FLAGS_signingkey" != "" ] && opts="$opts -u '$FLAGS_signingkey'"
+			[ "$FLAGS_message" != "" ] && opts="$opts -m '$FLAGS_message'"
+			git tag $opts "$tagname" || \
+			die "Tagging failed. Please run finish again to retry."
+		fi
 	fi
 
 	# try to merge into develop
@@ -253,26 +259,89 @@
 	fi
 
 	# delete branch
-	git branch -d "$BRANCH"
+	if noflag keep; then
+		if [ "$BRANCH" = "$(git_current_branch)" ]; then
+			git checkout "$MASTER_BRANCH"
+		fi
+		git branch -d "$BRANCH"
+	fi
 
 	if flag push; then
 		git push "$ORIGIN" "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" || \
 			die "Could not push to $DEVELOP_BRANCH from $ORIGIN."
 		git push "$ORIGIN" "$MASTER_BRANCH" || \
 			die "Could not push to $MASTER_BRANCH from $ORIGIN."
-		git push --tags "$ORIGIN" || \
-			die "Could not push tags to $ORIGIN."
+		if noflag notag; then
+			git push --tags "$ORIGIN" || \
+			  die "Could not push tags to $ORIGIN."
+		fi
+		git push "$ORIGIN" :"$BRANCH" || \
+			die "Could not delete the remote $BRANCH in $ORIGIN."
 	fi
 
 	echo
 	echo "Summary of actions:"
 	echo "- Latest objects have been fetched from '$ORIGIN'"
 	echo "- Release branch has been merged into '$MASTER_BRANCH'"
-	echo "- The release was tagged '$tagname'"
+	if noflag notag; then
+		echo "- The release was tagged '$tagname'"
+	fi
 	echo "- Release branch has been back-merged into '$DEVELOP_BRANCH'"
-	echo "- Release branch '$BRANCH' has been deleted"
+	if flag keep; then
+		echo "- Release branch '$BRANCH' is still available"
+	else
+		echo "- Release branch '$BRANCH' has been deleted"
+	fi
 	if flag push; then
 		echo "- '$DEVELOP_BRANCH', '$MASTER_BRANCH' and tags have been pushed to '$ORIGIN'"
+		echo "- Release branch '$BRANCH' in '$ORIGIN' has been deleted."
 	fi
 	echo
 }
+
+cmd_publish() {
+	parse_args "$@"
+	require_version_arg
+
+	# sanity checks
+	require_clean_working_tree
+	require_branch "$BRANCH"
+	git fetch -q "$ORIGIN"
+	require_branch_absent "$ORIGIN/$BRANCH"
+
+	# create remote branch
+	git push "$ORIGIN" "$BRANCH:refs/heads/$BRANCH"
+	git fetch -q "$ORIGIN"
+
+	# configure remote tracking
+	git config "branch.$BRANCH.remote" "$ORIGIN"
+	git config "branch.$BRANCH.merge" "refs/heads/$BRANCH"
+	git checkout "$BRANCH"
+
+	echo
+	echo "Summary of actions:"
+	echo "- A new remote branch '$BRANCH' was created"
+	echo "- The local branch '$BRANCH' was configured to track the remote branch"
+	echo "- You are now on branch '$BRANCH'"
+	echo
+}
+
+cmd_track() {
+	parse_args "$@"
+	require_version_arg
+
+	# sanity checks
+	require_clean_working_tree
+	require_branch_absent "$BRANCH"
+	git fetch -q "$ORIGIN"
+	require_branch "$ORIGIN/$BRANCH"
+
+	# create tracking branch
+	git checkout -b "$BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$BRANCH"
+
+	echo
+	echo "Summary of actions:"
+	echo "- A new remote tracking branch '$BRANCH' was created"
+	echo "- You are now on branch '$BRANCH'"
+	echo
+}
diff --git a/git-flow-support b/git-flow-support
index ba92cb9..605694d 100644
--- a/git-flow-support
+++ b/git-flow-support
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 require_git_repo
 require_gitflow_initialized
 gitflow_load_settings
-VERSION_PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag)
+VERSION_PREFIX=$(eval "echo `git config --get gitflow.prefix.versiontag`")
 PREFIX=$(git config --get gitflow.prefix.support)
 
 warn "note: The support subcommand is still very EXPERIMENTAL!"
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
                 warn ""
 		exit 0
 	fi
-	current_branch=$(git branch | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
+	current_branch=$(git branch --no-color | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g')
 	short_names=$(echo "$support_branches" | sed "s ^$PREFIX  g")
 
 	# determine column width first
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@
 }
 
 require_base_is_on_master() {
-	if ! git branch --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
+	if ! git branch --no-color --contains "$BASE" 2>/dev/null \
 			| sed 's/[* ] //g' \
 	  		| grep -q "^$MASTER_BRANCH\$"; then
 		die "fatal: Given base '$BASE' is not a valid commit on '$MASTER_BRANCH'."
diff --git a/git-flow-version b/git-flow-version
index 7371595..cc8fd27 100644
--- a/git-flow-version
+++ b/git-flow-version
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 # policies, either expressed or implied, of Vincent Driessen.
 #
 
-GITFLOW_VERSION=0.3
+GITFLOW_VERSION=0.4
 
 usage() {
 	echo "usage: git flow version"
diff --git a/gitflow-common b/gitflow-common
index 29ef388..e5ffc74 100644
--- a/gitflow-common
+++ b/gitflow-common
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@
 warn() { echo "$@" >&2; }
 die() { warn "$@"; exit 1; }
 
+# argument processing
+last_arg() {
+    if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
+        shift $(expr $# - 1)
+        echo "$1"
+    fi
+}
+
 # set logic
 has() {
 	local item=$1; shift
@@ -66,13 +74,13 @@
 # Git specific common functionality
 #
 
-git_local_branches() { git branch | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
-git_remote_branches() { git branch -r | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
-git_all_branches() { ( git branch; git branch -r) | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
+git_local_branches() { git branch --no-color | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
+git_remote_branches() { git branch -r --no-color | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
+git_all_branches() { ( git branch --no-color; git branch -r --no-color) | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
 git_all_tags() { git tag; }
 
 git_current_branch() {
-	git branch | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g'
+	git branch --no-color | grep '^\* ' | grep -v 'no branch' | sed 's/^* //g'
 }
 
 git_is_clean_working_tree() {
@@ -140,7 +148,7 @@
 git_is_branch_merged_into() {
 	local subject=$1
 	local base=$2
-	local all_merges=$(git branch --contains $subject | sed 's/^[* ] //')
+	local all_merges=$(git branch --no-color --contains $subject | sed 's/^[* ] //')
 	has $base $all_merges
 }