Problem with git push over <hostname>:/path protocol (ssh)

We are seeing very strange behavior with git (1.4.4.1, and 1.5.0-rc2) that results in a push to a remote repo leaving modified files in the remote repo. Here is the gist (slightly edited for clarity):

On machine1:

% mkdir git_it % git init-db % echo lksjdflksdf > foo % git add foo % git commit -a -m foo % git status [nothing, all clear]

On machine2:

% git clone machine1:/path/to/git_it
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/blear/tst/git_it/.git/
remote: Generating pack...
remote: Done counting 3 objects.
remote: Deltifying 3 objects.
remote:  100% (3/3) done
remote: Total 3, written 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Indexing 3 objects.
 100% (3/3) done
% cd git_it
% git co -b new_branch
% echo -e "\nbar fig dongle\n" >> foo
% git commit -a -m foo
Created commit 082d40b1906eecc8a26f6e6e5500c476a8e4311f
 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
% git co master
% git pull . new_branch
Updating f404614..082d40b
Fast forward
 foo |    3 +++
 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
% git push
updating 'refs/heads/master'
  from f4046144d031a779c7127b01ce6241fd66eb9f54
  to   082d40b1906eecc8a26f6e6e5500c476a8e4311f
Generating pack...
Done counting 5 objects.
Result has 3 objects.
Deltifying 3 objects.
 100% (3/3) done
Writing 3 objects.
 100% (3/3) done
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking 3 objects
refs/heads/master: f4046144d031a779c7127b01ce6241fd66eb9f54 -> 082d40b1906eecc8a26f6e6e5500c476a8e4311f

On machine1:

% cd git_it % git status # Updated but not checked in: # (will commit) # # modified: foo # % cat foo foo % git diff --cached