I have a branch of a public repository and I am trying to update my branch with the current commits from the original repository:
$ git fetch <remote>
remote: Counting objects: 24, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (20/20), done.
remote: Total 20 (delta 12), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (20/20), done.
From git://github.com/path_to/repo
9b70165..22127d0 master -> $/master
$ git rebase <remote>
fatal: Needed a single revision
invalid upstream <remote>
The <remote> is in place of my remote name and is not actually my remote name. The documentation on this error seems to be a bit loose.
You need to provide the name of a branch (or other commit identifier), not the name of a remote to git rebase.
E.g.:
git rebase origin/master
not:
git rebase origin
Note, although origin should resolve to the the ref origin/HEAD when used as an argument where a commit reference is required, it seems that not every repository gains such a reference so it may not (and in your case doesn't) work. It pays to be explicit.
Check that you spelled the branch name correctly. I was rebasing a story branch (i.e. branch_name) and forgot the story part. (i.e. story/branch_name) and then git spit this error at me which didn't make much sense in this context.
I ran into this and realized I didn't fetch the upstream before trying to rebase. All I needed was to git fetch upstream
The issue is that you branched off a branch off of.... where you are trying to rebase to. You can't rebase to a branch that does not contain the commit your current branch was originally created on.
I got this when I first rebased a local branch X to a pushed one Y, then tried to rebase a branch (first created on X) to the pushed one Y.
Solved for me by rebasing to X.
I have no problem rebasing to remote branches (potentially not even checked out), provided my current branch stems from an ancestor of that branch.
For remote origin:
$ echo "ref: refs/remotes/origin/master" > .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
I was mistakenly typing git rebase when I meant git bisect. Ensure that you're using the command you're expecting!
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4798080/git-rebase-fatal-needed-a-single-revision