diff --git a/builtin/bisect--helper.c b/builtin/bisect--helper.c
index ec49962..73f9324 100644
--- a/builtin/bisect--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/bisect--helper.c
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_expected_rev, "BISECT_EXPECTED_REV")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_ancestors_ok, "BISECT_ANCESTORS_OK")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_start, "BISECT_START")
-static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_head, "BISECT_HEAD")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_log, "BISECT_LOG")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_head_name, "head-name")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_names, "BISECT_NAMES")
@@ -164,7 +163,7 @@
 		strbuf_addstr(&branch, commit);
 	}
 
-	if (!file_exists(git_path_bisect_head())) {
+	if (!ref_exists("BISECT_HEAD")) {
 		struct argv_array argv = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
 
 		argv_array_pushl(&argv, "checkout", branch.buf, "--", NULL);
diff --git a/git-bisect.sh b/git-bisect.sh
index 08a6ed5..f03fbb1 100755
--- a/git-bisect.sh
+++ b/git-bisect.sh
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 
 bisect_head()
 {
-	if test -f "$GIT_DIR/BISECT_HEAD"
+	if git rev-parse --verify -q BISECT_HEAD > /dev/null
 	then
 		echo BISECT_HEAD
 	else
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@
 	git bisect--helper --bisect-next-check $TERM_GOOD $TERM_BAD $TERM_GOOD|| exit
 
 	# Perform all bisection computation, display and checkout
-	git bisect--helper --next-all $(test -f "$GIT_DIR/BISECT_HEAD" && echo --no-checkout)
+	git bisect--helper --next-all $(git rev-parse --verify -q BISECT_HEAD > /dev/null && echo --no-checkout)
 	res=$?
 
 	# Check if we should exit because bisection is finished
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 639cba9..89814c7 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -902,7 +902,7 @@
 			       old_oid, flags);
 }
 
-void copy_reflog_msg(struct strbuf *sb, const char *msg)
+static void copy_reflog_msg(struct strbuf *sb, const char *msg)
 {
 	char c;
 	int wasspace = 1;
@@ -919,6 +919,15 @@
 	strbuf_rtrim(sb);
 }
 
+static char *normalize_reflog_message(const char *msg)
+{
+	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	if (msg && *msg)
+		copy_reflog_msg(&sb, msg);
+	return strbuf_detach(&sb, NULL);
+}
+
 int should_autocreate_reflog(const char *refname)
 {
 	switch (log_all_ref_updates) {
@@ -1124,7 +1133,7 @@
 		oidcpy(&update->new_oid, new_oid);
 	if (flags & REF_HAVE_OLD)
 		oidcpy(&update->old_oid, old_oid);
-	update->msg = xstrdup_or_null(msg);
+	update->msg = normalize_reflog_message(msg);
 	return update;
 }
 
@@ -1983,9 +1992,14 @@
 		       const char *refs_heads_master,
 		       const char *logmsg)
 {
-	return refs->be->create_symref(refs, ref_target,
-				       refs_heads_master,
-				       logmsg);
+	char *msg;
+	int retval;
+
+	msg = normalize_reflog_message(logmsg);
+	retval = refs->be->create_symref(refs, ref_target, refs_heads_master,
+					 msg);
+	free(msg);
+	return retval;
 }
 
 int create_symref(const char *ref_target, const char *refs_heads_master,
@@ -2370,10 +2384,16 @@
 	return refs->be->initial_transaction_commit(refs, transaction, err);
 }
 
-int refs_delete_refs(struct ref_store *refs, const char *msg,
+int refs_delete_refs(struct ref_store *refs, const char *logmsg,
 		     struct string_list *refnames, unsigned int flags)
 {
-	return refs->be->delete_refs(refs, msg, refnames, flags);
+	char *msg;
+	int retval;
+
+	msg = normalize_reflog_message(logmsg);
+	retval = refs->be->delete_refs(refs, msg, refnames, flags);
+	free(msg);
+	return retval;
 }
 
 int delete_refs(const char *msg, struct string_list *refnames,
@@ -2385,7 +2405,13 @@
 int refs_rename_ref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *oldref,
 		    const char *newref, const char *logmsg)
 {
-	return refs->be->rename_ref(refs, oldref, newref, logmsg);
+	char *msg;
+	int retval;
+
+	msg = normalize_reflog_message(logmsg);
+	retval = refs->be->rename_ref(refs, oldref, newref, msg);
+	free(msg);
+	return retval;
 }
 
 int rename_ref(const char *oldref, const char *newref, const char *logmsg)
@@ -2396,7 +2422,13 @@
 int refs_copy_existing_ref(struct ref_store *refs, const char *oldref,
 		    const char *newref, const char *logmsg)
 {
-	return refs->be->copy_ref(refs, oldref, newref, logmsg);
+	char *msg;
+	int retval;
+
+	msg = normalize_reflog_message(logmsg);
+	retval = refs->be->copy_ref(refs, oldref, newref, msg);
+	free(msg);
+	return retval;
 }
 
 int copy_existing_ref(const char *oldref, const char *newref, const char *logmsg)
diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index 6516c7b..e0aba23 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -1629,7 +1629,7 @@
 
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s %s %s", oid_to_hex(old_oid), oid_to_hex(new_oid), committer);
 	if (msg && *msg)
-		copy_reflog_msg(&sb, msg);
+		strbuf_addstr(&sb, msg);
 	strbuf_addch(&sb, '\n');
 	if (write_in_full(fd, sb.buf, sb.len) < 0)
 		ret = -1;
diff --git a/refs/refs-internal.h b/refs/refs-internal.h
index 4271362..357359a 100644
--- a/refs/refs-internal.h
+++ b/refs/refs-internal.h
@@ -96,12 +96,6 @@
  */
 enum peel_status peel_object(const struct object_id *name, struct object_id *oid);
 
-/*
- * Copy the reflog message msg to sb while cleaning up the whitespaces.
- * Especially, convert LF to space, because reflog file is one line per entry.
- */
-void copy_reflog_msg(struct strbuf *sb, const char *msg);
-
 /**
  * Information needed for a single ref update. Set new_oid to the new
  * value or to null_oid to delete the ref. To check the old value
diff --git a/t/lib-t6000.sh b/t/lib-t6000.sh
index b0ed476..fba6778 100644
--- a/t/lib-t6000.sh
+++ b/t/lib-t6000.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 : included from 6002 and others
 
-mkdir -p .git/refs/tags
-
 >sed.script
 
 # Answer the sha1 has associated with the tag. The tag must exist under refs/tags
@@ -26,7 +24,8 @@
 	_tag=$1
 	test -n "$_tag" || error "usage: save_tag tag commit-args ..."
 	shift 1
-	"$@" >".git/refs/tags/$_tag"
+
+	git update-ref "refs/tags/$_tag" $("$@")
 
 	echo "s/$(tag $_tag)/$_tag/g" >sed.script.tmp
 	cat sed.script >>sed.script.tmp
diff --git a/t/t3432-rebase-fast-forward.sh b/t/t3432-rebase-fast-forward.sh
index 6f0452c..a29eda8 100755
--- a/t/t3432-rebase-fast-forward.sh
+++ b/t/t3432-rebase-fast-forward.sh
@@ -60,15 +60,16 @@
 		fi &&
 		oldhead=\$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
 		test_when_finished 'git reset --hard \$oldhead' &&
-		cp .git/logs/HEAD expect &&
+		git reflog HEAD >expect &&
 		git rebase$flag $* >stdout &&
+		git reflog HEAD >actual &&
 		if test $what = work
 		then
 			old=\$(wc -l <expect) &&
-			test_line_count '-gt' \$old .git/logs/HEAD
+			test_line_count '-gt' \$old actual
 		elif test $what = noop
 		then
-			test_cmp expect .git/logs/HEAD
+			test_cmp expect actual
 		fi &&
 		newhead=\$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
 		if test $cmp = same