Can checkout and track git branch, but cannot pull

Question

So we have a branch in our git repo called creative_market. I run the command git checkout --track origin/creative_market which works fine. All of the changes that should be on the creative_market branch are present. However, if I run git pull I get this error:

Your configuration specifies to merge with the ref 'creative_market' from the remote, but no such ref was fetched.

In addition, if I do git pull origin creative_market I get:

fatal: Couldn't find remote ref creative_market

fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

Running a git branch -a clearly shows:

remotes/origin/creative_market

And my .git/config file shows:

[branch "creative_market"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/creative_market

Which lines up with everything else in my .git/config file.

I am stumped here. Any ideas?

Solution

The message you're getting can indicate that the creative_market branch no longer exists in the remote repository. Could this be the case?

You can fix it with the following commands:

git checkout --track origin/creative_market
git push origin creative_market

Another, slightly longer, way to prove what's happening is to do the following:

First, make a backup ref with the command git branch creative_market2 origin/creative_market. Then, run git fetch -p to prune remote-tracking branches that no longer exist on the remote. If the branch was indeed deleted from the remote, you'll see something like the following:

[my-repository]$ git fetch -p
 x [deleted]         (none)     -> origin/creative_market

To re-create the branch on the remote repository, simply push your local ref to it:

git push --set-upstream origin creative_market2:creative_market

Comments

[Mike Lentini]

Thanks Stephen. I believe you are right that the branch didn't exist anymore, so I fixed it by doing git checkout --track origin/creative_market and then pushing it via git push origin creative_market which seems to have fixed everything. I'm guessing your solution will work as well, so I'll mark it as correct. Thanks again!

[Stephen Jennings]

@MikeLentini That's a much quicker fix, I added it into my answer. Thanks.