[tbb-bugs] #29572 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Fetching latest commits fails with older git versions when building testbuilds

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#29572: Fetching latest commits fails with older git versions when building
testbuilds
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     Reporter:  gk                        |      Owner:  tbb-team
         Type:  defect                    |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium                    |  Milestone:
    Component:  Applications/Tor Browser  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal                    |   Keywords:  tbb-rbm
Actual Points:                            |  Parent ID:
       Points:                            |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                            |
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 Trying to build a test build on one of my build machines surprisingly
 failed during the fetch step with the following error:
 {{{
 ./rbm/rbm build release --target testbuild --target torbrowser-
 windows-i686
 fatal: Refusing to fetch into current branch refs/heads/master of non-bare
 repository
 Error: Error fetching git repository
 Makefile:117: recipe for target 'testbuild-windows-i686' failed
 }}}
 Instrumenting `rbm` showed me that this happens when `git` is trying to
 fetch the latest commits for the `tor` repo but there aren't any new ones.
 I compared the `rbm` config etc. with one of my other build machines where
 this issue does not show up and the only difference I found so far is the
 `git` version. On the succeeding machine I have 2.11.0 and on the failing
 one 2.1.4.

 So, I am assuming right now that something between those versions got
 fixed in `git` that made the error go away. We should (a) figure out
 whether that theory is correct and, if so, (b) think about whether we want
 to support the older `git` versions affected by this and, if so, (c) think
 about a good workaround.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/29572>
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