Confusing error message for git switch -d

Hi,

I just ran into a confusing error message when using git switch -d, specifically in a clone of the CPython code repository.

I wanted to get the code for CPython 3.12, so I tried running git switch -d 3.12, expecting 3.12 to be a tag (which it wasn’t, and it was a remote branch).

Git produced this error message:

fatal: '--detach' cannot be used with '-b/-B/--orphan'

This is confusing since I didn’t pass any of these options.

I believe I have determined that this error message occurs when using git switch -d to switch to a remote branch that hasn’t yet had a local branch that tracks it created for it.

Why is Git producing this error specifically? It also seems that, whatever the reason, a user probably doesn’t know, so a better error message might be a good idea.

To clarify, if I’d known that my assumption of it being a tag was wrong, I’d’ve still expected Git to act differently, specifically, it could’ve switched to the commit the branch is pointing to in detached HEAD mode (as it does when using -d with other branches).

Thanks Anselm

PS: Are there no mailing list servers that support HTML messages? Why 
are they not allowed, even with plaintext fallback?