diff --git a/shallow.c b/shallow.c
index df4d44ea7a..44fdca1ace 100644
--- a/shallow.c
+++ b/shallow.c
@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@ struct commit_list *get_shallow_commits_by_rev_list(int ac, const char **av,
 		die("revision walk setup failed");
 	traverse_commit_list(&revs, show_commit, NULL, &not_shallow_list);
 
+	if (!not_shallow_list)
+		die("no commits selected for shallow requests");
+
 	/* Mark all reachable commits as NOT_SHALLOW */
 	for (p = not_shallow_list; p; p = p->next)
 		p->item->object.flags |= not_shallow_flag;
diff --git a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
index 80a1a3239a..2a6055d478 100755
--- a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
+++ b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
@@ -711,6 +711,17 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch shallow since ...' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'clone shallow since selects no commits' '
+	test_create_repo shallow-since-the-future &&
+	(
+	cd shallow-since-the-future &&
+	GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="100000000 +0700" git commit --allow-empty -m one &&
+	GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="200000000 +0700" git commit --allow-empty -m two &&
+	GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="300000000 +0700" git commit --allow-empty -m three &&
+	test_must_fail git clone --shallow-since "900000000 +0700" "file://$(pwd)/." ../shallow111
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'shallow clone exclude tag two' '
 	test_create_repo shallow-exclude &&
 	(