In a (private) repo project I have, I recently tried (and failed) to do: git checkout v4.1-support getting a "pathspec did not match any files known to git" error. There's an origin/v4.1-support, there is no v4.1-support "local" branch. Creating the tracking branch explicitly worked. Other similar branches in existence upstream did work. Autocomplete matched git's own behaviour for this; where git checkout foo woudn't work, autocomplete would not offer a completion. Why is this? One theory I have not explored is that I have other remotes, and some have a v4.1-support branch. If that's the case, the error message is not very helpful, and could be improved. git --version 2.7.4 DWIM in git is remarkably good, even addictive... when it works :-) cheers, m -- martin.langhoff@xxxxxxxxx - ask interesting questions ~ http://linkedin.com/in/martinlanghoff - don't be distracted ~ http://github.com/martin-langhoff by shiny stuff