# Git fetch Failure 3 messages from 2025-09-02 to 2025-09-02. Participants: Tarun【ツ】, Kristoffer Haugsbakk, Karthik Nayak. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/64072 ## Tarun【ツ】, 2025-09-02 14:08 Subject: Git fetch Failure Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAGAx-2Ac2Tt4-jTH%3DAApK3m%3DU7d2RJBaTW%3DuX6jBHzmpWU9NYw%40mail.gmail.com ``` Thank you for filling out a Git bug report! Please answer the following questions to help us understand your issue. What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue) I am trying to clone the repo from cmdline. the same steps succeeds with git v2.50.1 but fails with git v 2.51.0 repro steps mkdir TasksTest cd TasksTest git init git remote add origin https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-tasks.git git fetch What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior) Git fetch to succeed What happened instead? (Actual behavior) Git fetch failed with error error: cannot lock ref 'refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146': Unable to create '/Users/admin/Repos/tasks1/.git/refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146.lock': File exists. Another git process seems to be running in this repository, e.g. an editor opened by 'git commit'. Please make sure all processes are terminated then try again. If it still fails, a git process may have crashed in this repository earlier: remove the file manually to continue. What's different between what you expected and what actually happened? Anything else you want to add: Please review the rest of the bug report below. You can delete any lines you don't wish to share. [System Info] git version: git version 2.51.0 cpu: arm64 no commit associated with this build sizeof-long: 8 sizeof-size_t: 8 shell-path: /bin/sh feature: fsmonitor--daemon libcurl: 8.7.1 zlib: 1.2.12 SHA-1: SHA1_DC SHA-256: SHA256_BLK default-ref-format: files default-hash: sha1 uname: Darwin 24.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:29 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.140.69~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64 compiler info: clang: 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.3) libc info: no libc information available $SHELL (typically, interactive shell): /bin/zsh [Enabled iHooks] ``` ## Kristoffer Haugsbakk, 2025-09-02 14:46 Subject: Re: Git fetch Failure Message-ID: <829c6e09-c834-461f-820d-981512a02a76@app.fastmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/829c6e09-c834-461f-820d-981512a02a76%40app.fastmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, Sep 2, 2025, at 16:08, Tarun【ツ】 wrote: >[snip] > What happened instead? (Actual behavior) > > Git fetch failed with error > > error: cannot lock ref > 'refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146': Unable to > create > '/Users/admin/Repos/tasks1/.git/refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146.lock': > File exists. >[snip] > [System Info] > > git version: > > git version 2.51.0 > > cpu: arm64 > > no commit associated with this build > > sizeof-long: 8 > > sizeof-size_t: 8 > > shell-path: /bin/sh > > feature: fsmonitor--daemon > > libcurl: 8.7.1 > > zlib: 1.2.12 > > SHA-1: SHA1_DC > > SHA-256: SHA256_BLK > > default-ref-format: files > > default-hash: sha1 > > uname: Darwin 24.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:29 > PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.140.69~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64 > > compiler info: clang: 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.3) > > libc info: no libc information available > > $SHELL (typically, interactive shell): /bin/zsh > > > > [Enabled iHooks] It looks like a casing issue caused by `default-ref-format: files`. ˋˋˋ $ git for-each-ref --format='%(refname)' | grep -i sqlServerModuleImportM146 refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlServerModuleImportM146 refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146 ˋˋˋ You could try ˋˋˋ $ git clone --ref-format=reftable https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-tasks.git ˋˋˋ -- Kristoffer Haugsbakk ``` ## Karthik Nayak, 2025-09-02 20:28 Subject: Re: Git fetch Failure Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAOLa%3DZQZL3hZE_3ajCAA5%3D41PZLAVOE%3DrnPJexu4nPGibNgvRA%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <829c6e09-c834-461f-820d-981512a02a76@app.fastmail.com> ``` "Kristoffer Haugsbakk" writes: > On Tue, Sep 2, 2025, at 16:08, Tarun【ツ】 wrote: >>[snip] >> What happened instead? (Actual behavior) >> >> Git fetch failed with error >> >> error: cannot lock ref >> 'refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146': Unable to >> create >> '/Users/admin/Repos/tasks1/.git/refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146.lock': >> File exists. >>[snip] >> [System Info] >> >> git version: >> >> git version 2.51.0 >> >> cpu: arm64 >> >> no commit associated with this build >> >> sizeof-long: 8 >> >> sizeof-size_t: 8 >> >> shell-path: /bin/sh >> >> feature: fsmonitor--daemon >> >> libcurl: 8.7.1 >> >> zlib: 1.2.12 >> >> SHA-1: SHA1_DC >> >> SHA-256: SHA256_BLK >> >> default-ref-format: files >> >> default-hash: sha1 >> >> uname: Darwin 24.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:29 >> PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.140.69~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64 >> >> compiler info: clang: 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.3) >> >> libc info: no libc information available >> >> $SHELL (typically, interactive shell): /bin/zsh >> >> >> >> [Enabled iHooks] > > It looks like a casing issue caused by `default-ref-format: files`. > > ˋˋˋ > $ git for-each-ref --format='%(refname)' | grep -i sqlServerModuleImportM146 > refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlServerModuleImportM146 > refs/remotes/origin/users/ajya/sqlservermoduleimportM146 > ˋˋˋ > > You could try > > ˋˋˋ > $ git clone --ref-format=reftable https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-tasks.git > ˋˋˋ > Yeah, so the issue is that using the files backend on case-insensitive filesystems breaks since there are conflicts due to references with only case difference. Before 2.51 we would simply overwrite one reference with the other _silently_. With 2.51 we use a single transaction for reference update and this breaks. There was another report similar to this [1] and I've also pushed patches to overcome this issue [2]. But with the files backend, there will always be a compromise. So like Kristoffer suggested, the best path is to use the reftable backend, which can handle different cases in references. [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/YQXPR01MB3046197EF39296549EE6DD669A33A@YQXPR01MB3046.CANPRD01.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM/ [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250902-587-git-fetch-1-fails-fetches-on-case-insensitive-repositories-v1-0-35e69bbb507d@gmail.com/ > -- > Kristoffer Haugsbakk ```