diff -r 0cb55b5c19a3 -r 4feb55e6931f mercurial/discovery.py
--- a/mercurial/discovery.py	Wed Jul 18 14:41:58 2012 +0200
+++ b/mercurial/discovery.py	Tue Jul 17 01:04:45 2012 +0200
@@ -168,10 +168,7 @@
         branches = set(repo[n].branch() for n in outgoing.missing)
 
         # 2. Check for new branches on the remote.
-        if remote.local():
-            remotemap = phases.visiblebranchmap(remote.local())
-        else:
-            remotemap = remote.branchmap()
+        remotemap = remote.branchmap()
         newbranches = branches - set(remotemap)
         if newbranches and not newbranch: # new branch requires --new-branch
             branchnames = ', '.join(sorted(newbranches))