`git-p4 clone` fails "new tip ... does not contain ..."

Question

I'm runnining on Windows, with the windows p4 client, and git installed via Cygwin. The p4 client advertises how its syntax is regular across platforms and all that, so that should be hunky-dory.

So when I go to git-p4 clone --verbose //depot/path/to/source, it lists out all the files in the repository as though they were being checked out, then dies saying

Exception: fast-import failed: warning: Not updating refs/remotes/p4/master (new tip cd601b92da8625c90af05685e450e55b6d19c9e9 does not contain 3a512c9408e3cbeef 94c78dfd7115f81e4a6fd0d)

and concludes with a big block of "git-fast-import statistics". Looking at the error: new tip? Huh? What needs to contain it?

What I'm left with is a .git repo that's a couple of megs (much, much smaller than the full source tree would be). Any ideas?

Answer 1

I've had a similar problem and can usually be traced to the casing in paths, branch names, etc. Not sure about P4 but ensure that you don't have a Master branch - it should be master. Follow the same regiment across the board. Also, avoid directory and file names with spaces in them. A lot of git-centric tooling does not like that. Gitolite is one example. It will not allow a repository that has a space in it.

Hope this helps,

Adam