Perhaps we could go one step further when we issue this error message? $ git checkout -b jc/ls-files-i-dir maitn-1.7.8 fatal: git checkout: updating paths is incompatible with switching branches. Did you intend to checkout 'maitn-1.7.8' which can not be resolved as commit? Yes, I do have maint-1.7.8 branch in my private repository. -- To unsubscribe from this list: 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