Hi, I think I came across a bug. I use git version 1.7.10.4 on Ubuntu 12.10. I haven't tried to find out if it's a known bug. Reproduction scenario: 1. create a git repo: $ mkdir -p tmp/bezdek $ cd tmp/bezdek/ $ echo "*.swp" > .gitignore $ git init $ git add . $ git commit -m "Initial commit" 2. clone the "remote" repo: $ cd ../.. $ mkdir -p tmp/cloned $ git clone ../bezdek/ 3. create the troublesome branch in the "remote" repo $ cd ../bezdek $ git checkout -b MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek $ echo "*.bak" >> .gitignore $ git add . $ git commit -m "Some changes" 4. pull and checkout to the MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek branch in the cloned repo $ cd ../cloned/bezdek $ cat .git/config [core] repositoryformatversion = 0 filemode = true bare = false logallrefupdates = true [remote "origin"] fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* url = /home/pospispa/tmp/tmp/cloned/../bezdek/ [branch "master"] remote = origin merge = refs/heads/master $ git pull remote: Counting objects: 5, done. remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 33% (1/3) Unpacking objects: 66% (2/3) Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3) Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done. >From /home/pospispa/tmp/tmp/cloned/../bezdek * [new branch] MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek -> origin/MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek Already up-to-date. $ cat .git/config [core] repositoryformatversion = 0 filemode = true bare = false logallrefupdates = true [remote "origin"] fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* url = /home/pospispa/tmp/tmp/cloned/../bezdek/ [branch "master"] remote = origin merge = refs/heads/master $ git checkout MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek fatal: bad config file line 12 in .git/config $ cat .git/config [core] repositoryformatversion = 0 filemode = true bare = false logallrefupdates = true [remote "origin"] fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* url = /home/pospispa/tmp/tmp/cloned/../bezdek/ [branch "master"] remote = origin merge = refs/heads/master [branch "MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek"] remote = origin I think that the problem may be with the branch name length. I think that git branch allows to created branches with very long names, however, such long name are not allowed in .git/config or the git checkout <very-long-remote-branch-name> has some problems with it. I recovered from this problem in this way: 1. deleted last two lines in tmp/cloned/bezdek/.git/config file and deleted index and working tree $ git reset HEAD * $ git checkout -- * 2. renamed the troublesome branch in "remote" repo: $ cd ../../bezdek $ git branch -m MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek 3. pull from "remote" to cloned again $ cd ../cloned/bezdek $ git pull >From /home/pospispa/tmp/tmp/cloned/../bezdek * [new branch] MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek -> origin/MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek Already up-to-date. $ git branch -r origin/HEAD -> origin/master origin/MCRD0106586-CR00023206-Configuration-management-of-MCO-shall-be-integrated-with-AMS-2.0-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek origin/MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek origin/master $ git checkout MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek Branch MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek set up to track remote branch MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek from origin. Switched to a new branch 'MCRD0106586-CR00023206-current-cm-config.xml-file-from-Peter-Bezdek' Best regards, Pavel Pospisil -- 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