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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

copying Superfly Jon s comment into an answer  To create a new branch without committing on master  you can use  git checkout -b  lt branchname gt

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

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