[git] fatal: Not a valid object name: 'master'

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'.

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.

You need to commit at least one time on master before creating a new branch.

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

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

git checkout -b <branchname>

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.