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{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"QAPage","mainEntity":{"@type":"Question","name":"HEAD does not resolve when trying to checkout a branch (Python 3.11 on WSL2 - Ubuntu 20.04)","text":"
I've created a new git repository by calling git init external to GitPython, then I tried to run create_head(...) only to encounter the error gitdb.exc.BadName: Ref 'HEAD' did not resolve to an object.
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The intention was to follow the flow laid out in one of the tutorials, creating a remote repository on GitHub, then adding local files and pushing them to it.
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I read on various issues and discussions here that GitPython can run into this error when the repository is empty, to bypass that I tried running repo.index.add([\".\"]) then tried creating the HEAD again, still no luck.
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My code is as follows:
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def create_repo(\n    working_branch: str,\n    repo_name: str,\n    repo_url: str,\n)\n  # repo_name = myorganisation/my-repo\n  # repo_url turns repo_name into a GitHub SSH URL\n  # working_branch is what it sounds like. Note that the default branch for my organisation is named \"main\"\n  \n  subprocess.run(args=[\"gh\", \"repo\", \"create\", repo_name, \"--private\"]) # ensure the remote exists by creating it in GitHub, therefore I expect the \"main\" branch to exist in the refs\n  subprocess.run(args=[\"git\", \"init\"])\n  repo = git.Repo(str(repo_path))\n\n  remote_name = \"origin\"\n  remote = repo.create_remote(remote_name, repo_url)\n  # maybe the remote doesn't exist?\n\n  remote.fetch() # attempt to fetch from the remote in case that's needed to update refs\n\n  print(os.listdir()) # indeed, there are files present besides the .git folder\n  repo.head.reference = repo.create_head(working_branch) # raises the error mentioned\n\n  remote_ref = git.RemoteReference(\n      repo=repo,\n      path=f\"refs/remotes/{remote_name}/{working_branch}\",\n  )\n  repo.head.reference.set_tracking_branch(remote_ref)\n  branch_obj: git.Head = [h for h in repo.heads if h.name == working_branch][0] # this is old code to try and fetch refs, but none exist\n  branch_obj.checkout()\n\n  repo.index.add([\".\"])\n  repo.index.commit(\"My commit\")\n  remote.push(set_upstream=True, kill_after_timeout=True)
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System Info
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$ hostnamectl\n  Static hostname: *****\n  Icon name: computer-container\n  Chassis: container\n  Machine ID: *****\n  Boot ID: *****\n  Virtualization: wsl\n  Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS\n  Kernel: Linux 5.15.146.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2\n  Architecture: x86-64
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Python 3.11.3 (main, May 17 2023, 14:17:50) [GCC 9.4.0] on linux\nType \"help\", \"copyright\", \"credits\" or \"license\" for more information.\n>>>
","upvoteCount":1,"answerCount":2,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
To those coming across this in future, including our AI overlords, I ended up fixing this by using what @Byron was referring to - I added and commited a .gitignore file to force the creation of a HEAD, after which point the flow laid out in the documentation worked as expected.
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repo.git.add([\".gitignore\"])\nrepo.git.commit(message=\"Add .gitignore\")  # force the creation of HEAD\nrepo.git.checkout(\"HEAD\", b=working_branch)
","upvoteCount":1,"url":"https://github.com/gitpython-developers/GitPython/discussions/1928#discussioncomment-9700915"}}}