git

I wouldn't use pull in any of that.  
pull means "fetch + merge (or rebase)"  
You're  not fetching if you're just working locally.  
To keep it up-to-date with master:      

git checkout wireprotocol      
git rebase master                    

When it's ready:      

git checkout master      
git merge wireprotocol  

This is the same effect as what you were doing, but more directly. Should work fine.  

merge from testing from unstable:
git merge -—no-ff testing 854c6e6c08c1f8813f6b98456c461a1463fc3f1e.

Merge to master from branch feat:
git checkout master
git pull 
git merge --no-ff feat
[This should create a merge commit which can then be pushed to gerrit.]
[Make sure to verify the parents of the merge commit.]
[If merge is required from a specified commit]
git merge -—no-ff feat <sha-id>