git pull fails 'error: refs/stash does not point to a valid object!'

Question

git pull is giving this error:

$ git pull
error: refs/stash does not point to a valid object!
error: refs/stash does not point to a valid object!
error: refs/sta         


        

Answer 1

I just ran into this error. Two servers were pulling a clone from the same source; only one of them gave this error. So I dug deeper.

Git's release notes for version 1.8.5.5 state:

• "git clone" would fail to clone from a repository that has a ref directly under "refs/", e.g. "refs/stash", because different validation paths do different things on such a refname. Loosen the client side's validation to allow such a ref.

I found that one of the servers was using Git 1.7.1 and the other was using Git 1.8.5.6.

It's worth noting that the fetch command would fail as well, though not explicitly mentioned in the release notes above.

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In my particular case I also found that the server with Git 1.7.1 actually had the later Git as well, but it was later in the PATH environment variable.

It may be of interest that when I ran git fetch using the later version, the clone thereafter worked even with the older version.

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The simplest solution is just to upgrade Git to version 1.8.5.5 or later.

_{Or, of course, drop the stash, but then your clone will break again next time someone makes a stash.}