`git 1.8.3.1` job contains potentially misleading errors

Some calls to git in the Makefile use newer arguments which are not supported by git 1.8, so it ends up causing noise in the git 1.8.3.1 job log. In cases where you must ensure that your MR does not break anything, it’s distracting to find errors in job logs.

Solution

Change the calls to use a syntax that is accepted by both recent versions of git and version 1.8.