1 files changed, 9 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index 6b56473f5b..8ee2487ed3 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -643,9 +643,17 @@ static int match_explicit(struct ref *src, struct ref *dst,
 		errs = 1;
 
 	if (!dst_value) {
+		unsigned char sha1[20];
+		int flag;
+
 		if (!matched_src)
 			return errs;
-		dst_value = matched_src->name;
+		dst_value = resolve_ref(matched_src->name, sha1, 1, &flag);
+		if (!dst_value ||
+		    ((flag & REF_ISSYMREF) &&
+		     prefixcmp(dst_value, "refs/heads/")))
+			die("%s cannot be resolved to branch.",
+			    matched_src->name);
 	}
 
 	switch (count_refspec_match(dst_value, dst, &matched_dst)) {