warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to checkout
GitGit Problem Overview
This seems like a popular error for different causes.
I've got a simple bare git repo called "kiflea.git", I clone it like this:
git clone git://kipdola.be/kiflea.git
Then git tells me: warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to checkout.
And yes, there are no versioned files in the map, except for the .git directory. Anyway, the only thing I need to do is:
cd kiflea
git checkout master
And it works, all the files are there. But I thought cloning a repo automatically checks out the master, so what is going on exactly, and how do I fix it?
I have noticed that, after I do the git checkout master
bit, this gets added to my local .git config file:
[branch "master"]
remote = origin
merge = refs/heads/master
It's probably interesting to know that this git repository used to be an svn repository in a distant past.
Ps: when browsing the bare repository using gitweb, there clearly is a master
branch there: http://kipdola.be/gitweb/?p=kiflea.git;a=summary
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
The warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to checkout.
means that the remote (bare) repository contains branch reference in the file called HEAD
with a value that does not match any published branch in the same repository.
Note that the warning only means that git didn't do checkout. The cloned repository is otherwise just fine. Just do git branch -a
to see possible branches and git checkout the-branch-you-want
to workaround the issue.
This usually happens because the default contents for that file (.git/HEAD
or plain HEAD
for bare repositories) is ref: refs/heads/master
which says that if somebody is going to clone
this repository, they should by default clone the branch refs/heads/master
. By default Git will create local branch without the refs/heads/
prefix (that is, master
by default). Try git help symbolic-ref
for more information.
The problem with this situation is that Git does not provide a method for modifying remote symbolic refs so either you use something the Git hosting provider has implemented (e.g. Settings - Default branch in GitHub if you have admin rights) or you have to use branch name master
as the default branch (because that's the default content for the file HEAD
and if you cannot modify that file, you'll be stuck with master
forever).
If you have a shell access to your remote git repo, you can simply cd path/to/git/repo; git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/XYZ
where XYZ
is the branch name you want to use by default.
One way to hit this issue is to create a new remote bare repo with no commits and then do git push name-of-the-remote my-special-branch-name
which will result in bare repository containing a single branch my-special-branch-name
but the HEAD
symbolic ref still contains the default value pointing to master
. As a result, you'll get the aforementioned warning. If you cannot modify the remote HEAD
file, you can publish your branch using syntax git push name-of-the-remote my-special-branch-name:master
meaning that your local branch called my-special-branch-name
should be published as branch master
on the remote.
Solution 2 - Git
I have had the same issue because I was not using anymore the master
branch and it went lost in both my local and remote repository.
The remote repository had still the HEAD
set to master
, I have changed it to one of the remote branch I actually use and everything works fine.
If you can access your remote repository:
- Go to your
remote_repo.git
; - Edit
HEAD
file - Change
ref: refs/heads/master
toref: refs/heads/your_branch
Solution 3 - Git
Yes this is related to your git clone trying to checkout a branch different than master. Just do this
git clone user@git-server:project_name.git -b branch_name /some/folder
This will help you clone the exact branch via its branch name.
Solution 4 - Git
It is late(2021) answer but will help others.
When you create a bare repo using git init --bare
it set ref: refs/heads/master
in HEAD
file but when you clone this bare repo its default branch is main
, this is the issue so you need to change HEAD
file and put main' instead of
masater` i.e.
ref: refs/heads/main
Solution 5 - Git
Even though this error was displayed - my project was still connected to the corresponding repository - I ran the git branch
command and saw the appropriate branches - then I ran git checkout *branchname
and BOOM - all was well.
Solution 6 - Git
I had same issue when creating a bare repo.
I solved it just cloning the repo, creating a local master branch and then pushing master to the remote repo.
-
clone the repo
$ git.exe clone --progress -v "the remote path" "my local path"
-
create a master branch locally.
$ git checkout -b master
-
commit something in the local branch
$ git add readme.md $ git commit –m “Added readme”
-
Push local master on the remote
$ git push origin master
Solution 7 - Git
For Gitlab, even it shows you are on a default branch (e.g. master
) you might not actually be on it, setting it again fix it, like so:
- Create a new branch, maybe
asd
- settings > repository > Default Branch, which shows the default branch is
master
- Set it to
asd
- Set it back to
master
- Delete
asd
branch
Done, now your default branch is master
Solution 8 - Git
This question is 10 year old. This is how I solved it now:
Suppose you are cloning your repo using clone command than you will see logs like this:
git clone https://abcgit-repo.abccoolrepo
> Cloning into > 'abcgit404.sasasasmy cool repo'... > remote: Counting objects: 198, done remote: Finding sources: 100% > (26/26) Receiving objects: 80% (176/219)ed 208 (delta 0)Receiving > objects Receiving objects: 100% (219/219), 49.09 KiB | 163.00 KiB/s, > done. warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to > checkout.
Now to solve remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to
First checkout your branch you will see logs like this:
- git checkout remotes/origin/mainline
> HEAD is now at xyz
- See all branchs your current branch will have * in front of it
git branch -a
> *(HEAD detached at origin/mainline)
remotes/origin/a
> remotes/origin/b
remotes/origin/c
> remotes/origin/d
remotes/origin/mainline
- Copy the branch name from above and run git checkout checkout -b
Eg checking out mainline:
git checkout -b remotes/origin/mainline
> *origin/mainline
remotes/origin/a
> remotes/origin/b
remotes/origin/c
> remotes/origin/d
remotes/origin/mainline
This will solve the issue
Solution 9 - Git
There's definitely something wrong with your remote repository. You might be able to fix it by making a new clone of the repository. Also pushing a new commit to the master branch might work too.
Solution 10 - Git
I'd guess that it's the leading *
in the commit log that is somehow fooling the remote server.
I can browse around the repo's web interface using some of the menu links, but others fail with a 404 - Unknown commit object
or similar, particularly from the summary page.
See if you can amend that last commit message and then force push the update to see if that fixes it. There may be a bug in the server demon. If it does fix it it would be worth reporting on the git list [email protected] (plain text messages only)
Solution 11 - Git
In my case the repo was empty.
git checkout --orphan master
git add some_file
git commit -m 'init'
git push origin master
Solution 12 - Git
If there is no master branch actually available, check the following; If there is a file named 'packed-refs' inside the '.git' folder, open it and you could find all references listed.
Something like below;
# pack-refs with: peeled fully-peeled
e7cc58650190bd28599d81917f1706445d3c6d8b refs/tags/afw-test-harness-1.5
^cfae4f034e82591afdf4e5ed72279297d0eee618
6afe1bcfa4bd74de8e0c8f64d024e1cc289206df refs/tags/afw-test-harness-2.1
^c32f7fa495d4b44652f46c065fcd19c3acd237a6
72f2e4284dfbf27c82967da096c6664646bbdd19 refs/tags/android-1.6_r1
^50992e805e758e2231f28ec2127b57a1a9fd0ddc
0cbd528cad1cee9556098b62add993fc3b5dcc33 refs/tags/android-1.6_r1.1
Then use;
git checkout refs/tags/xxxx
Or
git checkout 'HASH value'
to checkout the required version. Thank you.
Solution 13 - Git
I seemed to fix it with:
git checkout -b master
git push
This created the default master, and then I could checkout my other branches