Re: cloning a tree which has detached branch checked out

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 7, 2012, 17:11 UTC
Message-ID: <7v4nv236xn.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20120207153225.GA14773@sigill.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 15 quoted lines

> On Tue, Feb 07, 2012 at 07:57:08PM +0700, Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 5:41 PM, Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com> wrote:
>> >> > #git clone -n lab:/home/mst/scm/linux
>> >> > ....
>> >> > error: Trying to write ref HEAD with nonexistant object
>> >> > cec64082f689f949a397cb9b39423dc41545fa0e
>> >> > fatal: Cannot update the ref 'HEAD'.
>> >> >
>> >> > Looks like a bug, doesn't it?
>> >> ...
>
> This particular bug should have been fixed before that, even, with my
> c1921c1 (clone: always fetch remote HEAD, 2011-06-07). And it is tested
> explicitly in t5707,...

That was my thought when I first saw it. The failure case was that HEAD was pointing at something no ref reaches, and clone was only grabbing the tips of branches, which failed to transfer the history leading to HEAD.

> ... So I think your guess about a subtle error in the local ref
> processing is a reasonable one.

What is funny is "error: Trying to write ref HEAD with nonexistant object". "git grep -e nonexistant f3fb0" does not register any hit.

Could it be that mysterious "lab:" protocol handler that is misbehaving?