The patch in the previous mail results in a change in output as specified below. $ git branch * master foo bar Before patch, $ git branch -m hypothet master fatal: A branch named 'master' already exists. $ git branch -m hypothet real error: refname refs/heads/hypothet not found fatal: Branch rename failed After patch, $ git branch -m hypothet master fatal: Branch 'hypothet' does not exist. $ git branch -m hypothet real fatal: Branch 'hypothet' does not exist. -- Kaartic