funny refname error when creating a new remote branch

Question

So I've gotten a project up on github and everything is dandy. Now I want to create a new branch.

Here's what I've done:

1. created a new local branch
2. pushed the new branch to github

Here's the problem: During the push to my remote, I get this error:

Repository ssh://[email protected]/<username>/ProjectColossus.git

funny refname
error: refusing to create funny ref 'workingBranch' remotely

My remote repo is called origin, so I've tried using that refname as suggested in another answer here on stackoverflow, but I get the same error. I've also tried using the same name as my new local branch, in the "Target Ref Name:" field before the remote push, but I really just am not sure what I'm doing at this point. I know there's something I'm not getting about git remote pushes, so a little explanation would be super helpful. I'm pretty new to git and version control, but I'm an intermediate level programmer (starting second year CS in January).

Answer 1

In the Target Ref Name, probably you have to add refs/heads:

refs/heads/name_of_your_new_branch

In your specific case:

refs/heads/workingBranch

(at least, it is the way with Bitbucket - egit, the Eclipse plugin for Eclipse)

Answer 2

I find it a litle bit silly that EGit expects something like V0.0.1 when you create a Tag (placing the tag to /refs/tags/V0.0.1 location in the local repository) and it expects to provide the refname like /refs/tags/V0.0.1 when you push the Tag into the remote repository