diff -r 9b9500175ae5 -r 462d52ae7fb7 hgext/evolve.py
--- a/hgext/evolve.py	Fri Feb 17 19:54:42 2012 +0100
+++ b/hgext/evolve.py	Wed Feb 29 14:42:30 2012 +0100
@@ -374,8 +374,13 @@
             updatenodes = set(cl.nodesbetween(roots=[old.node()],
                                               heads=[head.node()])[0])
             updatenodes.remove(old.node())
-            if not updatenodes and not (opts.get('message') or opts.get('logfile') or opts.get('edit')):
-                raise error.Abort(_('no updates found'))
+            okoptions = ['message', 'logfile', 'edit', 'user', 'branch']
+            if not updatenodes:
+                for o in okoptions:
+                    if opts.get(o):
+                        break
+                else:
+                    raise error.Abort(_('no updates found'))
             updates = [repo[n] for n in updatenodes]
 
             # perform amend