fatal: remote part of refspec is not a valid name in :capabilities^{}

Question

Cloning a given repo from github, then pushing to a fresh repo on bitbucket, and I get the error:

> fatal: remote part of refspec is not a valid name in :capabilities^{}
> fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

What does the error mean - and what's causing it (I'm still new to git).

Here's the log:

- clone from github:
$ git clone git://github.com/ASKBOT/askbot-devel.git  test2
$ cd test2

- create a private git repo on bitbucket:
on the site GUI

- add remote:
$ git remote add bbtest2 https://[email protected]/shishani/test2.git

$ git remote -v
bbtest2 https://[email protected]/shishani/test2.git (fetch)
bbtest2 https://[email protected]/shishani/test2.git (push)
origin  git://github.com/ASKBOT/askbot-devel.git (fetch)
origin  git://github.com/ASKBOT/askbot-devel.git (push)

$ git branch -a
* master
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
  remotes/origin/admin-interface
  remotes/origin/adminarea
  remotes/origin/adolfo-postman
  remotes/origin/allow-other-login-apps
  remotes/origin/anon-posting
  remotes/origin/askbot-site
  remotes/origin/auto-media-revisions
  remotes/origin/avatars-sidebar
  remotes/origin/beta2-english-chinese
  remotes/origin/better-setup
  remotes/origin/blockip
  remotes/origin/bug102
  remotes/origin/bugfixes
  remotes/origin/cache-experiment
  remotes/origin/categories
  remotes/origin/cnprog-import
  remotes/origin/common-question-view
  remotes/origin/development
  remotes/origin/django-registration
  remotes/origin/elastic-skin
  remotes/origin/experimental
  remotes/origin/experimental-merge
  remotes/origin/fabian
  remotes/origin/fbconnect
  remotes/origin/feature73
  remotes/origin/follow-user
  remotes/origin/gh-pages
  remotes/origin/inbox-and-flagged-items
  remotes/origin/issue116
  remotes/origin/jinja
  remotes/origin/master
  remotes/origin/multi-auth-app
  remotes/origin/new-template
  remotes/origin/newauth
  remotes/origin/password-only
  remotes/origin/postgres-full-text
  remotes/origin/pt-i18n
  remotes/origin/refs/heads/skins
  remotes/origin/remove-django-authopenid
  remotes/origin/remove-recaptcha-module
  remotes/origin/signin-config
  remotes/origin/sophia
  remotes/origin/sphinx-search
  remotes/origin/stackexchange
  remotes/origin/staticfiles
  remotes/origin/vlad111
  remotes/origin/wikipost

- push mirror to remote

$ git push --mirror  bbtest2
Password: 
fatal: remote part of refspec is not a valid name in :capabilities^{}
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly


- ordinary push - just for testing:

$ git push bbtest2
Password: 
Everything up-to-date

Edit - further testing log: pushing master first:

$ git push bbtest2 master
Password: 
Counting objects: 24187, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (6694/6694), done.
Writing objects: 100% (24187/24187), 11.88 MiB | 86 KiB/s, done.
Total 24187 (delta 17229), reused 23691 (delta 16845)
remote: bb/acl: shishani is allowed. accepted payload.
To https://[email protected]/shishani/test2.git
 * [new branch]      master -> master

$ git push --all bbtest2
Password: 
Everything up-to-date

$ git push --mirror bbtest2
Password: 
Counting objects: 4822, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (1540/1540), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4246/4246), 3.83 MiB | 86 KiB/s, done.
Total 4246 (delta 2891), reused 3860 (delta 2609)
remote: bb/acl: shishani is allowed. accepted payload.
To https://[email protected]/shishani/test2.git
 * [new branch]      bbtest2/master -> bbtest2/master
 * [new branch]      origin/HEAD -> origin/HEAD
 * [new branch]      origin/admin-interface -> origin/admin-interface
 * [new branch]      origin/adminarea -> origin/adminarea
 * [new branch]      origin/adolfo-postman -> origin/adolfo-postman
 * [new branch]      origin/allow-other-login-apps -> origin/allow-other-login-apps
 * [new branch]      origin/anon-posting -> origin/anon-posting
 * [new branch]      origin/askbot-site -> origin/askbot-site
 * [new branch]      origin/auto-media-revisions -> origin/auto-media-revisions
 * [new branch]      origin/avatars-sidebar -> origin/avatars-sidebar
 * [new branch]      origin/beta2-english-chinese -> origin/beta2-english-chinese
 * [new branch]      origin/better-setup -> origin/better-setup
 * [new branch]      origin/blockip -> origin/blockip
 * [new branch]      origin/bug102 -> origin/bug102
 * [new branch]      origin/bugfixes -> origin/bugfixes
 * [new branch]      origin/cache-experiment -> origin/cache-experiment
 * [new branch]      origin/categories -> origin/categories
 * [new branch]      origin/cnprog-import -> origin/cnprog-import
 * [new branch]      origin/common-question-view -> origin/common-question-view
 * [new branch]      origin/development -> origin/development
 * [new branch]      origin/django-registration -> origin/django-registration
 * [new branch]      origin/elastic-skin -> origin/elastic-skin
 * [new branch]      origin/experimental -> origin/experimental
 * [new branch]      origin/experimental-merge -> origin/experimental-merge
 * [new branch]      origin/fabian -> origin/fabian
 * [new branch]      origin/fbconnect -> origin/fbconnect
 * [new branch]      origin/feature73 -> origin/feature73
 * [new branch]      origin/follow-user -> origin/follow-user
 * [new branch]      origin/gh-pages -> origin/gh-pages
 * [new branch]      origin/inbox-and-flagged-items -> origin/inbox-and-flagged-items
 * [new branch]      origin/issue116 -> origin/issue116
 * [new branch]      origin/jinja -> origin/jinja
 * [new branch]      origin/master -> origin/master
 * [new branch]      origin/multi-auth-app -> origin/multi-auth-app
 * [new branch]      origin/new-template -> origin/new-template
 * [new branch]      origin/newauth -> origin/newauth
 * [new branch]      origin/password-only -> origin/password-only
 * [new branch]      origin/postgres-full-text -> origin/postgres-full-text
 * [new branch]      origin/pt-i18n -> origin/pt-i18n
 * [new branch]      origin/refs/heads/skins -> origin/refs/heads/skins
 * [new branch]      origin/remove-django-authopenid -> origin/remove-django-authopenid
 * [new branch]      origin/remove-recaptcha-module -> origin/remove-recaptcha-module
 * [new branch]      origin/signin-config -> origin/signin-config
 * [new branch]      origin/sophia -> origin/sophia
 * [new branch]      origin/sphinx-search -> origin/sphinx-search
 * [new branch]      origin/stackexchange -> origin/stackexchange
 * [new branch]      origin/staticfiles -> origin/staticfiles
 * [new branch]      origin/vlad111 -> origin/vlad111
 * [new branch]      origin/wikipost -> origin/wikipost
 * [new tag]         0.7.25 -> 0.7.25
 * [new tag]         0.7.26 -> 0.7.26
 * [new tag]         0.7.27 -> 0.7.27
 * [new tag]         0.7.28 -> 0.7.28
 * [new tag]         0.7.29 -> 0.7.29
 * [new tag]         0.7.30 -> 0.7.30
 * [new tag]         0.7.31 -> 0.7.31
 * [new tag]         0.7.32 -> 0.7.32
 * [new tag]         0.7.33 -> 0.7.33
 * [new tag]         0.7.34 -> 0.7.34
 * [new tag]         0.7.35 -> 0.7.35
 * [new tag]         0.7.36 -> 0.7.36
 * [new tag]         0.7.37 -> 0.7.37
 * [new tag]         0.7.38 -> 0.7.38
 * [new tag]         history+wikipost -> history+wikipost
 * [new tag]         remove -> remove
 * [new tag]         show -> show

$

Answer 1

I would first push the master branch, to initialize your empty BitBucket repo history.
Then I would push everything else.

git push bbtest2 master
git push --mirror bbtest2

All parameters needed to be setup for using https (SSL) are listed in "Unable to push a git repo via HTTP".