How do I create a master branch?

[roni hoffman]

I cloned a repo into an empty folder.  Usually when I do this a master branch is created automatically by default but for some reason this time it isnt.  When I add files to the cloned folder source tree does not recognize any working copy changes.  How do I resolve this?  If I try and just add a master branch it gives me the error

git -c diff.mnemonicprefix=false -c core.quotepath=false branch master
fatal: Not a valid object name: 'master

[Jobin Kuruvilla _Adaptavist_]

You don't need to create master branch. When you add the new folder and commit the changes, it goes under "master" by default.

[Martin Thomsen]

If this is still a problem, try checking you global .gitignore file. It could be that the file you want to add are ignored. I had a similar issue, and found the problem was that *.txt was added to my global .gitignore file, you can probably find the file in your user directory: ~/.gitignore

[colinwiseman]

My solution to this was to hit the "create .gitignore" file in the UI for the new repository. Bitbucket then created Master for me.

[Tim Crall]

Jobin's answer should normally be correct, but it sounds like you already know that and that something weird has happened.  What do you see if you do a "git branch" command at the terminal?

I would probably try just cloning again to see if it works as expected this time.  If not, try creating a new folder, cd'ing into it (at a unix or Git Bash terminal) and doing

git init
git remote set-url origin <remote-repo-url>
git pull

[roni hoffman]

Yes I tried that and I can't commit anything because sourcetree doenst recognize that any files have been added ot the folder.  I think it may have something to do with the fact that there was another user that set this souretree up.  I have logged him out everywhere.

sourcetree.PNG

[Jobin Kuruvilla _Adaptavist_]

What happens when you navigate to that folder in command line and try "git status"?

[Tim Crall]

I would definitely recommend trying to resolve this issue from the command line first. One thing I've found sometimes when really weird stuff like this is happening is that it turns out the SourceTree is not looking at the directory on the local computer file's structure that I thought it was. Working at the command line makes this more obvious. The results of "git status" and "git branch" commands when in the repo at the command line will be informative.