'warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

Since a few days ago, every time I press tab key to complete branch names in bash I see the message:

warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

For example, this is what I see when I have a branch called feature/foo and I press tab:

git checkout f

$ git checkout fwarning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
eature/

Solution 1:^[1]

This is a simpler solution than symbolic-ref.

Since you may have excluded the branch that origin/HEAD was initially pointed to.

1. List your remote branches with:

git branch -r

2. If it doesn't show in the results:

origin/HEAD -> origin/(something)

3. Just point it again with:

git remote set-head origin master

where "master" is the name of your primary (head) branch.

Running git branch -r again now shows origin/HEAD -> origin/(something) and the warning goes away.

Solution 2:^[2]

Just run the command -

#replace the <branch name> with your main branch - master, main, etc.    
git remote set-head origin <branch name>

Enjoy!

Solution 3:^[3]

Some problems arise after the local master renames main:

git fetch: "fatal: couldn't find remote ref refs/heads/master";
git branch -u origin/main main: "error: the requested upstream branch 'origin/main' does not exist";
git remote set-head origin main: "error: Not a valid ref: refs/remotes/origin/main";
git push -u origin main: "error: failed to push some refs to 'github.com:/.git'";
git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/main or git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main or git update-ref refs/heads/main main,
- and then git branch -r: "warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD";

The solution to this problem:

git remote -v, copy git repository url
git remote rm origin, remove remote
git remote add origin <REPOSITORY_URL>, reset remote url
git fetch origin
git branch -u origin/main main, reset branch upstream

Solution 4:^[4]

In my case the problem was the file .git\refs\remotes\origin\master that got corrupted, maybe since my computer was involuntary disconnected from power a few days ago.

I solved it by replacing the file content with the correct reference, a 40 char hex number that can be found in the file .git\FETCH_HEAD.

Solution 5:^[5]

Looks like the default branch of your remote origin doesn't exists anymore.
Fix the default branch of the remote:

GitHub: https://github.com/USER_OR_ORG/REPOSITORY/settings/branches -> "Default branch"
Bitbucket Cloud: https://bitbucket.org/USER_OR_ORG/REPOSITORY/admin -> " Main branch"
Bitbucket Server: http://git.sid.distribution.edf.fr/projects/PROJECT/repos/REPOSITORY/settings -> "Default branch"

Solution 6:^[6]

My solution was to delete the folder/file:

./.git/refs/remotes/origin/{branch_name}

Afterwards I was finally able to make a git fetch again.

Solution 7:^[7]

Like already answered - The warning indicates that the remote branch no longer exists, e.g. when the remote branch is merged+deleted into another branch.

In my case I had to delete my local branch, because it was not longer needed and fixing the broken ref was not possible. Therefore, git branch -d feature/.. did the job.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	Paulo Coghi
Solution 2
Solution 3
Solution 4	user7359564
Solution 5	zigarn
Solution 6	chrisaramar
Solution 7	Kevin Wallis

'warning: ignoring broken ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

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