diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a77d67a96..6cd547974 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,7 +4,5 @@ dist
 *~
 *.diff
 *.patch
-test/qunit
-src/sizzle
 /*.html
 .DS_Store
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..80ce23688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[submodule "src/sizzle"]
+	path = src/sizzle
+	url = git://github.com/jeresig/sizzle.git
+[submodule "test/qunit"]
+	path = test/qunit
+	url = git://github.com/jquery/qunit.git
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a6aae4253..84816a19e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-V ?= 0
-
 SRC_DIR = src
 TEST_DIR = test
 BUILD_DIR = build
@@ -38,7 +36,6 @@ JQ = ${DIST_DIR}/jquery.js
 JQ_MIN = ${DIST_DIR}/jquery.min.js
 
 SIZZLE_DIR = ${SRC_DIR}/sizzle
-QUNIT_DIR = ${TEST_DIR}/qunit
 
 JQ_VER = $(shell cat version.txt)
 VER = sed "s/@VERSION/${JQ_VER}/"
@@ -51,32 +48,8 @@ all: jquery min lint
 ${DIST_DIR}:
 	@@mkdir -p ${DIST_DIR}
 
-ifeq ($(strip $(V)),0)
-verbose = --quiet
-else ifeq ($(strip $(V)),1)
-verbose =
-else
-verbose = --verbose
-endif
-
-define clone_or_pull
--@@if test ! -d $(strip ${1})/.git; then \
-		echo "Cloning $(strip ${1})..."; \
-		git clone $(strip ${verbose}) --depth=1 $(strip ${2}) $(strip ${1}); \
-	else \
-		echo "Pulling $(strip ${1})..."; \
-		git --git-dir=$(strip ${1})/.git pull $(strip ${verbose}) origin master; \
-	fi
-
-endef
-
-${QUNIT_DIR}:
-	$(call clone_or_pull, ${QUNIT_DIR}, git://github.com/jquery/qunit.git)
-
-${SIZZLE_DIR}:
-	$(call clone_or_pull, ${SIZZLE_DIR}, git://github.com/jeresig/sizzle.git)
-
-init: ${QUNIT_DIR} ${SIZZLE_DIR}
+init:
+	@@if [ -d .git ]; then git submodule update --init --recursive; fi
 
 jquery: init ${JQ}
 jq: init ${JQ}
@@ -122,7 +95,16 @@ clean:
 	@@echo "Removing built copy of Sizzle"
 	@@rm -f src/selector.js
 
-	@@echo "Removing cloned directories"
+distclean: clean
+	@@echo "Removing submodules"
 	@@rm -rf test/qunit src/sizzle
 
+# update the submodules to the latest at the most logical branch
+pull_submodules:
+	@@git submodule foreach "git pull origin \$$(git branch --no-color --contains \$$(git rev-parse HEAD) | grep -v \( | head -1)"
+	@@git submodule summary
+
+pull: pull_submodules
+	@@git pull ${REMOTE} ${BRANCH}
+
 .PHONY: all jquery lint min init jq clean
diff --git a/src/ajax.js b/src/ajax.js
index 4714afdae..add3b3738 100644
--- a/src/ajax.js
+++ b/src/ajax.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ var r20 = /%20/g,
 	rheaders = /^(.*?):[ \t]*([^\r\n]*)\r?$/mg, // IE leaves an \r character at EOL
 	rinput = /^(?:color|date|datetime|email|hidden|month|number|password|range|search|tel|text|time|url|week)$/i,
 	// #7653, #8125, #8152: local protocol detection
-	rlocalProtocol = /(?:^file|^widget|\-extension):$/,
+	rlocalProtocol = /^(?:about|app|app\-storage|.+\-extension|file|widget):$/,
 	rnoContent = /^(?:GET|HEAD)$/,
 	rprotocol = /^\/\//,
 	rquery = /\?/,
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ var r20 = /%20/g,
 	rucHeadersFunc = function( _, $1, $2 ) {
 		return $1 + $2.toUpperCase();
 	},
-	rurl = /^([\w\+\.\-]+:)(?:\/\/([^\/?#:]*)(?::(\d+))?|\/[^\/])/,
+	rurl = /^([\w\+\.\-]+:)(?:\/\/([^\/?#:]*)(?::(\d+))?)?/,
 
 	// Keep a copy of the old load method
 	_load = jQuery.fn.load,
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ try {
 }
 
 // Segment location into parts
-ajaxLocParts = rurl.exec( ajaxLocation.toLowerCase() );
+ajaxLocParts = rurl.exec( ajaxLocation.toLowerCase() ) || [];
 
 // Base "constructor" for jQuery.ajaxPrefilter and jQuery.ajaxTransport
 function addToPrefiltersOrTransports( structure ) {
diff --git a/src/manipulation.js b/src/manipulation.js
index ba3169715..27f81cc24 100644
--- a/src/manipulation.js
+++ b/src/manipulation.js
@@ -261,7 +261,9 @@ jQuery.fn.extend({
 				}
 			});
 		} else {
-			return this.pushStack( jQuery(jQuery.isFunction(value) ? value() : value), "replaceWith", value );
+			return this.length ?
+				this.pushStack( jQuery(jQuery.isFunction(value) ? value() : value), "replaceWith", value ) :
+				this;
 		}
 	},
 
diff --git a/src/sizzle b/src/sizzle
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..ef19279f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sizzle
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit ef19279f54ba49242c6461d47577c703f4f4e80e
diff --git a/test/qunit b/test/qunit
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..d404faf8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/qunit
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit d404faf8f587fcbe6b8907943022e6318dd51e0c
diff --git a/test/unit/ajax.js b/test/unit/ajax.js
index 2a2ac46a1..7c572a32c 100644
--- a/test/unit/ajax.js
+++ b/test/unit/ajax.js
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ test(".ajax() - hash", function() {
 
 test("jQuery ajax - cross-domain detection", function() {
 
-	expect( 5 );
+	expect( 6 );
 
 	var loc = document.location,
 		otherPort = loc.port === 666 ? 667 : 666,
@@ -508,6 +508,7 @@ test("jQuery ajax - cross-domain detection", function() {
 	});
 
 	jQuery.ajax({
+		dataType: "jsonp",
 		url: 'app:/path',
 		beforeSend: function( _ , s ) {
 			ok( s.crossDomain , "Adobe AIR app:/ URL detected as cross-domain" );
@@ -533,6 +534,15 @@ test("jQuery ajax - cross-domain detection", function() {
 		}
 	});
 
+	jQuery.ajax({
+		dataType: "jsonp",
+		url: "about:blank",
+		beforeSend: function( _ , s ) {
+			ok( s.crossDomain , "Test about:blank is detected as cross-domain" );
+			return false;
+		}
+	});
+
 	jQuery.ajax({
 		dataType: "jsonp",
 		url: loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host,
diff --git a/test/unit/manipulation.js b/test/unit/manipulation.js
index 34425ed3a..ff3dff164 100644
--- a/test/unit/manipulation.js
+++ b/test/unit/manipulation.js
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ test("insertAfter(String|Element|Array<Element>|jQuery)", function() {
 });
 
 var testReplaceWith = function(val) {
-	expect(20);
+	expect(21);
 	jQuery('#yahoo').replaceWith(val( '<b id="replace">buga</b>' ));
 	ok( jQuery("#replace")[0], 'Replace element with string' );
 	ok( !jQuery("#yahoo")[0], 'Verify that original element is gone, after string' );
@@ -800,6 +800,9 @@ var testReplaceWith = function(val) {
 	equals( set[0].nodeName.toLowerCase(), "span", "Replace the disconnected node." );
 	equals( set.length, 1, "Replace the disconnected node." );
 
+	var non_existant = jQuery('#does-not-exist').replaceWith( val("<b>should not throw an error</b>") );
+	equals( non_existant.length, 0, "Length of non existant element." );
+
 	var $div = jQuery("<div class='replacewith'></div>").appendTo("body");
 	// TODO: Work on jQuery(...) inline script execution
 	//$div.replaceWith("<div class='replacewith'></div><script>" +
@@ -827,7 +830,7 @@ test("replaceWith(String|Element|Array&lt;Element&gt;|jQuery)", function() {
 test("replaceWith(Function)", function() {
 	testReplaceWith(functionReturningObj);
 
-	expect(21);
+	expect(22);
 
 	var y = jQuery("#yahoo")[0];