fatal: Not a valid object name: 'master'

Question

I have a private server running git 1.7 When I

git init 

a folder it doesn't create a master branch. Cause when i do:

git branch 

it doesn't list anything. When I do:

git --bare init

it creates the files. When I type

git branch master 

it says:

fatal: Not a valid object name: 'master'.

Answer 1

When I git init a folder it doesn't create a master branch

This is true, and expected behaviour. Git will not create a master branch until you commit something.

When I do git --bare init it creates the files.

A non-bare git init will also create the same files, in a hidden .git directory in the root of your project.

When I type git branch master it says "fatal: Not a valid object name: 'master'"

That is again correct behaviour. Until you commit, there is no master branch.

You haven't asked a question, but I'll answer the question I assumed you mean to ask. Add one or more files to your directory, and git add them to prepare a commit. Then git commit to create your initial commit and master branch.

Answer 2

Git creates a master branch once you've done your first commit. There's nothing to have a branch for if there's no code in the repository.

Answer 3

First off, when you create a "bare repository", you're not going to be doing any work with it (it doesn't contain a working copy, so the git branch command is not useful).

Now, the reason you wouldn't have a master branch even after doing a git init is that there are no commits: when you create your first commit, you will then have a master branch.

Answer 4

在创建新分支之前，您需要在 master 上至少提交一次。

Answer 5

^{copying Superfly Jon's comment into an answer:}

To create a new branch without committing on master , you can use:

git checkout -b <branchname>

Answer 6

1. Make sure that you are in the correct directory (sometimes we get 2 folders inside each other having the same name may be not in servers but I had that once).
2. You need to commit then everything will work just fine.

Answer 7

Not a traditional answer but I have a solution for my case too. For this exact same issue, I noticed this issue occured when I created another repository in an already existing repository.

So if you cloned a repo and then git init again, it'll cause this issue. Then you have to delete the whole folder and clone it again. Thanks.

Answer 8

This is because you have not committed anything yet.
First, you have to use git add. or git add <file-name> , then you have to use git commit -m "committed successfully"
now you can create a new branch.

Answer 9

please try to create any file in master branch and commit.Then create other branch . It should work.