Removing alternates -- but how?

>     $ cat .git/objects/info/alternates
>     ../../../glibc/.git/objects
>     ../../../../O/work.new/.git/objects
>     $ git repack -a
>     Counting objects: 18670, done.
>     Compressing objects: 100% (7655/7655), done.
>     Writing objects: 100% (18670/18670), done.
>     Total 18670 (delta 10218), reused 18670 (delta 10218)
>     $ mv .git/objects/info/alternates{,.DEFUNCT}
>     $ git branch
>     error: refs/remotes/grubber/master does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/remotes/sourceware/cvs/fedora-2_3-branch does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/remotes/sourceware/cvs/fedora-2_5-branch does not point to a valid object!
>     [...]
>     error: refs/tags/cvs/sparc-980522-merge does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/tags/cvs/start does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/tags/master-2008-11-27 does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/tags/master-2009-02-10 does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/tags/master-2009-07-10 does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/top-bases/t/IOCTL_decode_argument does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/top-bases/t/IOCTL_types does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/top-bases/t/____longjmp_chk_cleanup_linux_x86_64 does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/top-bases/t/bits_posix_opt.h__POSIX_THREADS does not point to a valid object!
>     error: refs/top-bases/t/bits_pthreadtypes.h does not point to a valid object!
>       baseline
>       posix/regex_internal.c/MAX_undefined
>       t/IOCTL_decode_argument
>       t/IOCTL_types
>       t/____longjmp_chk
>       t/____longjmp_chk_cleanup_linux_x86_64
>       t/__rtld_lock_recursive_t
>     [...]
>       t/verify.h
>     * tschwinge/Roger_Whittaker

> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 02:57:04PM +0200, Thomas Schwinge <thomas@schwinge.name> wrote:
>>     $ cat .git/objects/info/alternates
>>     ../../../glibc/.git/objects
>>     ../../../../O/work.new/.git/objects
>>     $ git repack -a
>>     Counting objects: 18670, done.
>>     Compressing objects: 100% (7655/7655), done.
>>     Writing objects: 100% (18670/18670), done.
>>     Total 18670 (delta 10218), reused 18670 (delta 10218)
>>     $ mv .git/objects/info/alternates{,.DEFUNCT}
>>     $ git branch
>>     error: refs/remotes/grubber/master does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/remotes/sourceware/cvs/fedora-2_3-branch does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/remotes/sourceware/cvs/fedora-2_5-branch does not point to a valid object!
>>     [...]
>>     error: refs/tags/cvs/sparc-980522-merge does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/tags/cvs/start does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/tags/master-2008-11-27 does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/tags/master-2009-02-10 does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/tags/master-2009-07-10 does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/top-bases/t/IOCTL_decode_argument does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/top-bases/t/IOCTL_types does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/top-bases/t/____longjmp_chk_cleanup_linux_x86_64 does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/top-bases/t/bits_posix_opt.h__POSIX_THREADS does not point to a valid object!
>>     error: refs/top-bases/t/bits_pthreadtypes.h does not point to a valid object!
>>       baseline
>>       posix/regex_internal.c/MAX_undefined
>>       t/IOCTL_decode_argument
>>       t/IOCTL_types
>>       t/____longjmp_chk
>>       t/____longjmp_chk_cleanup_linux_x86_64
>>       t/__rtld_lock_recursive_t
>>     [...]
>>       t/verify.h
>>     * tschwinge/Roger_Whittaker
> 
> What git version are you using?
> 
> It seems to work for me:
> 
> $ mkdir s
> $ cd s
> $ git init
> $ echo a > a
> $ git add a
> $ git commit -m i
> $ cd ..
> $ git clone -s s c
> $ cd c
> $ git repack -a
> $ mv .git/objects/info/alternates .git/objects/info/alternates.orig
> $ git branch
> * master