Run command git branch --set-upstream-to produce error

Question

I tried to execute command:

$ git branch --set-upstream-to master origin/master
fatal: branch 'origin/master' does not exist

I checked origin/master exists

Answer 1

The syntax for git branch is:

git branch' (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>]

In your case:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master master 
# or
git branch -u origin/master master

# for git older than 1.8
git branch master --set-upstream origin/master

If you see an error like:

Error is: fatal: 
Cannot setup tracking information; starting point 'origin/master' is not a branch.

It means you haven't fetched anything from the remote origin.

1. Check that you do have a remote named origin, with a proper associated url

   git remote -v
   

2. Try and fetch from origin

   git fetch origin
   

You can see more about the fetch process in "After git update remote the new upstream branches are visible but not origin".