"git checkout: --track and --no-track require -b" check accidentally resurrected?

Merge commit 9ba929ed resurrected the following two-line check, which was removed in the first parent and unchanged in the second:

	if (!opts.new_branch && (opts.track != git_branch_track))
		die("git checkout: --track and --no-track require -b");

Is this intentional?  Does it make a difference?

(I noticed this while carefully examining 9ba929ed to find out why "git merge" stopped honoring merge.conflictstyle. Ironically, I hit this bug again during the examination.)

Matt