diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/versions.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/versions.rb
index e953e75f3f..6c13e741ac 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/versions.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/versions.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ require 'formula'
 
 module Homebrew extend self
   def versions
-    raise "Please `brew install git` first" unless system "/usr/bin/which -s git"
+    raise "Please `brew install git' first" unless system "/usr/bin/which -s git"
+    raise "Please `brew update' first" unless (HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY/".git").directory?
 
     raise FormulaUnspecifiedError if ARGV.named.empty?