git pull remote branch cannot find remote ref
GitGit Problem Overview
I'm not sure why this doesn't work. When I do git branch -a, this is what I see:
I'm trying to pull from the DownloadManager on the online GitHub repository. I have tried
- git pull, but then it complains about not knowing which branch to pull from
- git pull origin, doesn't know which branch
- git pull origin downloadmanager
fatal: Couldn't find remote ref downloadmanager. Unexpected end of commands stream - git pull origin remotes/origin/DownloadManager
'fatal couldn't find remote ref remotes/origin/DownloadManager. Unexpected end of commands stream
Is there something I'm missing? In Xcode, When I try to connect to the repository, nothing ever shows up. I have been able to push to it in the past. But I can't push again until I pull the most recent changes.
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
Be careful - you have case mixing between local and remote branch!
Suppose you are in local branch downloadmanager now (git checkout downloadmanager)
You have next options:
- Specify remote branch in pull/push commands every time (case sensitive):
git pull origin DownloadManager
or
git pull origin downloadmanager:DownloadManager
- Specify tracking branch on next push:
git push -u origin DownloadManager
(_-u_ is a short form of _--set-upstream_)
this will persist downloadmanager:DownloadManager link in config automatically (same result, as the next step).
- Set in git config default remote tracking branch:
git branch -u downloadmanager origin/DownloadManager
(note, since git 1.8 for _branch_ command _-u_ is a short form of _--set-upstream-to_, which is a bit different from deprecated _--set-upstream_)
or edit config manually (I prefer this way):
git config --local -e
-> This will open editor. Add block below (guess, after "master" block):
[branch "downloadmanager"]
remote = origin
merge = refs/heads/DownloadManager
and after any of those steps you can use easily:
git pull
If you use TortoiseGit: RightClick on repo -> TortoiseGit -> Settings -> Git -> Edit local .git/config
Solution 2 - Git
This error happens because of local repository can't identify the remote branch at first time. So you need to do it first. It can be done using following commands:
git remote add origin 'url_of_your_github_project'
git push -u origin master
Solution 3 - Git
The branch name in Git is case sensitive. To see the names of your branches that Git 'sees' (including the correct casing), use:
git branch -vv
... and now that you can see the correct branch name to use, do this:
git pull origin BranchName
where 'BranchName' is the name of your branch. Ensure that you match the case correctly
So in the OP's (Original Poster's) case, the command would be:
git pull origin DownloadManager
Solution 4 - Git
If none of these answers work, I would start by looking in your .git/config file for references to the branch that makes problems, and removing them.
Solution 5 - Git
I faced the same issue because GitHub changed the default branch name from master to main
so
git pull origin master did not work for me.
try this
git pull origin main
If the issue is due to a branch name conflict, this will save you.
Solution 6 - Git
If the remote branch was deleted (or renamed), then you might get such error when trying to fetch that old-branch:
$ git fetch --prune --all
Fetching origin
fatal: couldn't find remote ref refs/heads/old-branch
error: Could not fetch origin
Check your local git config if it still refers to the old-branch:
$ git config --get-all remote.origin.fetch
+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
+refs/heads/old-branch:refs/remotes/origin/old-branch
+refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master
Removing the old refs entries, can fix the fetch problem:
$ git config --unset-all remote.origin.fetch
$ git fetch --prune --all
Fetching origin
...
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
Solution 7 - Git
For me, it was because I was trying to pull a branch which was already deleted from Github.
Solution 8 - Git
In my case, this error occurred due to the naming changes made by Github for the default branch from master to main
So instead of using,
git pull origin master
You may use,
git pull origin main
Solution 9 - Git
You need to set your local branch to track the remote branch, which it won't do automatically if they have different capitalizations.
Try:
git branch --set-upstream downloadmanager origin/DownloadManager
git pull
UPDATE:
'--set-upstream' option is no longer supported.
git branch --set-upstream-to downloadmanager origin/DownloadManager
git pull
Solution 10 - Git
check your branch on your repo. maybe someone delete it.
Solution 11 - Git
This is because your remote branch name is "DownloadManager“, I guess when you checkout your branch, you give this branch a new name "downloadmanager".
But this is just your local name, not remote ref name.
Solution 12 - Git
For me it was failing because my remote branch was missing (it was deleted on previous merge run.)
Solution 13 - Git
In my case I had got the capitalisation wrong on the branch ABC-100 when I did git checkout abc-100 which I then worked on. My solution was to merge code from abc-100 into ABC-100 and then delete abc-100.
Solution 14 - Git
In my case I had a branch in my local branches that was removed from the server
just remove it from the local branches and pull will works as expected
Solution 15 - Git
I had this issue when after rebooted and the last copy of VSCode reopened. The above fix did not work, but when I closed and reopened VSCode via explorer it worked. Here are the steps I did:
//received fatal error
git remote remove origin
git init
git remote add origin git@github:<yoursite>/<your project>.git
// still received an err
//restarted VSCode and folder via IE
//updated one char and resaved the index.html
git add .
git commit -m "blah"
git push origin master
Solution 16 - Git
In my own case, I just made the change from "master" to "main" and I was able to pull from the remote repo.