Could it be that git-clone has a problem when a ref is not inside a subdir of .git/refs ? Both 1.3.3 and 1.4.0 show the following problem, which prevents cloning from this repo: $ git-clone http://ydirson.free.fr/soft/git/cvsps.git test Getting alternates list for http://ydirson.free.fr/soft/git/cvsps.git/ Getting pack list for http://ydirson.free.fr/soft/git/cvsps.git/ Getting index for pack 5d9ec186a71fb6a464878518335275fe7d061a1f Getting pack 5d9ec186a71fb6a464878518335275fe7d061a1f which contains de4e8c0aa352effae581924d07d2613799c2a5de walk de4e8c0aa352effae581924d07d2613799c2a5de walk 3e2d77cddea626fd4513087e0352ff9116f6d93b walk a21e7d37b22621c626faf25b32006bb1e6f7055b walk 1affe7d46c773d7a2136e66e927b09fa3c6a61d7 walk fdf44680988ce53173262c8f6cb6b478a6ab04a9 walk 4e3aa38681c849d6931dd56d958fff6abf3ea38e walk bb6b1ea1a785e10bee7bfba294012a821ddc3bd1 walk ab0095940796152f171d2de4fbd60ecc6ed433c3 walk cb7644a9650ef8521d5befb5ee43b7525445dc97 error: Can't lock ref posted0 -- Yann Dirson <ydirson@xxxxxxxxxx> | Debian-related: <dirson@xxxxxxxxxx> | Support Debian GNU/Linux: | Freedom, Power, Stability, Gratis http://ydirson.free.fr/ | Check <http://www.debian.org/> - : send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html