Git fatal: cannot lock ref

Question

I'm trying to create a branch on the current branch on my Ubuntu guest. Unfortunately I keep getting this error:

git checkout -b origin/feature/IF-53-change-validation-window/Tommaso
fatal: cannot lock ref 'refs/heads/origin/feature/IF-53-change-validation-window/Tommaso': 
'refs/heads/origin/branch' exists; 
cannot create 'refs/heads/origin/branch/Tommaso'

I tried git gc --prune=now as suggested here link, but keep getting the same error.

Solution 1

You shouldn't be checking out branches that begin with "origin" or any other existing branch name.

Assuming that branch exists on origin, you should do the following:

git checkout feature/IF-53-change-validation-window/Tommaso

If you run git branch I expect you will see local branches with origin in the name.

The format git checkout X is shorthand for "look for a local branch X and check that out if it exists; otherwise look for a remote branch X and check that out locally (git checkout -b X origin/X)."

If you are creating a new local branch, you will often do the following:

git checkout -b new-branch

This will create a new branch pointing at the same commit as you had checked out previously.

To fix your current state, you can likely do this (see here):

git update-ref -d refs/heads/origin/branch

Solution 2

Sometimes this can happen if the name of the branch you create doesn't match git naming conventions or those set by you projects git administrator. Changing the name to one that does, can can fix this issue.

Solution 3

This worked for me :

git --no-optional-locks fetch --prune origin 

Solution 4

This happened with me too. The reason was, I was checking out a branch named feature, but in my local I already had a branch called feature/new-feature.

Solution 5

I was looking for answer here, but actually my problem was simpler, yet unresolvable.

• fresh clone of repo
• git checkout foo/bar
• git checkout -b foo/bar/baz
• got similiar error message.

As described here, you cannot use foo/bar both as a branch and directory. I had to change proposed naming convention.

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