Automagic `git checkout branchname` mysteriously fails

From: Martin Langhoff <martin.langhoff@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 14, 2016, 20:25 UTC
Message-ID: <CACPiFC+8+wVEcDt9JZgTW1dwCCFKszyXD6ysDxNQorcNkom7Lw@mail.gmail.com>

In a (private) repo project I have, I recently tried (and failed) to do:

  git checkout v4.1-support

getting a "pathspec did not match any files known to git" error.

There's an origin/v4.1-support, there is no v4.1-support "local" branch. Creating the tracking branch explicitly worked.

Other similar branches in existence upstream did work. Autocomplete matched git's own behaviour for this; where git checkout foo woudn't work, autocomplete would not offer a completion.

Why is this?

One theory I have not explored is that I have other remotes, and some have a v4.1-support branch. If that's the case, the error message is not very helpful, and could be improved.

git --version 2.7.4

DWIM in git is remarkably good, even addictive... when it works :-)

cheers,

-- 
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