Git push error '[remote rejected] master -> ma

Question

Yesterday, I posted a question on how to clone a Git repository from one of my machines to another, How can I 'git clone' from another machine?.

I am now able to successfully clone a Git repository from my source (192.168.1.2) to my destination (192.168.1.1).

But when I did an edit to a file, a git commit -a -m "test" and a git push, I get this error on my destination (192.168.1.1):

git push                                                
hap@192.168.1.2's password: 
Counting objects: 21, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (11/11), done.
Writing objects: 100% (11/11), 1010 bytes, done.
Total 11 (delta 9), reused 0 (delta 0)
error: refusing to update checked out branch: refs/heads/master
error: By default, updating the current branch in a non-bare repository
error: is denied, because it will make the index and work tree inconsistent
error: with what you pushed, and will require 'git reset --hard' to match
error: the work tree to HEAD.
error: 
error: You can set 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable to
error: 'ignore' or 'warn' in the remote repository to allow pushing into
error: its current branch; however, this is not recommended unless you
error: arranged to update its work tree to match what you pushed in some
error: other way.
error: 
error: To squelch this message and still keep the default behaviour, set
error: 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable to 'refuse'.
To git+ssh://hap@192.168.1.2/media/LINUXDATA/working
! [remote rejected] master -> master (branch is currently checked out)
error: failed to push some refs to 'git+ssh://hap@192.168.1.2/media/LINUXDATA/working'

I'm using two different versions of Git (1.7 on the remote and 1.5 on the local machine). Is that a possible reason?

Answer 1

I had the same problem using Git to synchronise repositories on my Android phone and laptop. The solution for me was to do a pull instead of a push, as @CharlesBailey suggested.

git push origin master on the Android repository fails for me with the same error messages that @hap497 got because of a push to a nonbare checkout of a repository + working-copy.

git pull droid master on the laptop repository and working-copy works for me. Of course, you need to have previously run something like git remote add droid /media/KINGSTON4GB/notes_repo/.

Answer 2

I had to re-run git --init in an existing bare repository, and this had created a .git directory inside the bare repository tree - I realized that after typing git status there. I deleted that and everything was fine again :)

(All these answers are great, but in my case it was something completely different (as far as I can see), as described.)

Answer 3

check your .git/config in the destination project:

$ cat .git/config 
[core]
    repositoryformatversion = 0
    filemode = true
    bare = false
    logallrefupdates = true
[receive]
    denyCurrentBranch = updateInstead

If the core. bare is false, you can set it to true:

$ git config core.bare true

and then in your local push to remote:

git push remote_repo   // suppose the destination repo is remote_repo

it will success, in the remote_repo you can check git version.

$ git log -1
commit 0623b1b900ef7331b9184722a5381bbdd2d935ba
Author: aircraft < [e-mail]>
Date:   Thu May 17 21:54:37 2018 +0800

and now you can not use git in your "workspace":

$ git status
fatal: This operation must be run in a work tree

you should set bare.bare back to false.

$ git config core.bare false

Answer 4

OK, in case you want a normal remote repository, then create an extra branch and check it out. Push it into one branch (which is not checked out) and merge it with one which is currently active later after pushing from locally.

For example, on a remote server:

git branch dev
git checkout dev

On the local setup:

git push 

On remote server:

git merge dev

Answer 5

I'm sure most people viewing this question will stop at the first two huge answers, but I'd still like to offer my solution.

I had an Eclipse + EGit web project setup when encountering the described error. What helped me was simply using the GitHub app, which seemed to magically resolve the issue. While EGit would always refuse the push, the GitHub desktop app would just shrug its shoulders and push my changes. Maybe it handles the multi-login-situation more gracefully.

Answer 6

You should only be pushing to a bare repository. A bare repository is a repository that has no checked out branches. If you were to cd to a bare repository directory, you'd only see the contents of a .git directory.