Why is there a `remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master` entry in my `git branch -l -a` output?

Question

I don\'t understand the second line in the output to git branch -l -a: remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master.

git branch -l -a
*          


        

Answer 1

You can use git remote set-head origin -d to delete the origin/HEAD symbolic ref, or git remote set-head origin -a to query the remote and automatically set the origin/HEAD pointer to the remote's current branch.

The origin/HEAD reference is optional. It only acts as a syntactic shortcut: If it exists and points to origin/master, you can use specific simply origin where you would otherwise specify origin/master.

The git remote(1) man page describes this:

set-head

Sets or deletes the default branch (i.e. the target of the symbolic-ref refs/remotes//HEAD) for the named remote. Having a default branch for a remote is not required, but allows the name of the remote to be specified in lieu of a specific branch. For example, if the default branch for origin is set to master, then origin may be specified wherever you would normally specify origin/master.