Hi,

Here is something I have just recently tripped up on.

$ git pull
You asked me to pull without telling me which branch you
want to merge with, and 'branch..merge' in
your configuration file does not tell me either.  Please
name which branch you want to merge on the command line and
try again (e.g. 'git pull <repository> <refspec>').
See git-pull(1) for details on the refspec.

If you often merge with the same branch, you may want to
configure the following variables in your configuration
file:

    branch..remote = <nickname>
    branch..merge = <remote-ref>
    remote.<nickname>.url = <url>
    remote.<nickname>.fetch = <refspec>

See git-config(1) for details.

$ git branch
* (no branch)
  master

Running `git checkout master && git pull` fixed the above issue. The
patch below improves the error message for users that are in this
state.

Also, is "branch..remote" valid? Should this be "branch.remote"?

- Reece

From c3933ba95f705dae1a41cb2ee6a282f3be0a6ab0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Reece Dunn <msclrhd@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 22:27:10 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Improve the message when pulling to a headless branch.

---
 git-pull.sh |    4 ++++
 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/git-pull.sh b/git-pull.sh
index 8a26763..00a72dd 100755
--- a/git-pull.sh
+++ b/git-pull.sh
@@ -97,6 +97,10 @@ error_on_no_merge_candidates () {
 	echo "try again (e.g. 'git pull <repository> <refspec>')."
 	echo "See git-pull(1) for details on the refspec."
 	echo
+	echo "You may not be on a branch. In this case, you need to move"
+	echo "onto the branch you want to pull to (usually master):"
+	echo "    git checkout <branch>"
+	echo
 	echo "If you often merge with the same branch, you may want to"
 	echo "configure the following variables in your configuration"
 	echo "file:"
-- 
1.6.0.4
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