$ scap prep 1.36.0-wmf.3 ... 3:57:16 Fetching core to /srv/mediawiki-staging/php-1.36.0-wmf.3 23:59:42 Checkout wmf/1.36.0-wmf.3 in /srv/mediawiki-staging/php-1.36.0-wmf.3 23:59:42 Unhandled error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/cli.py", line 341, in run exit_status = app.main(app.extra_arguments) File "/srv/mediawiki-staging/scap/plugins/prep.py", line 143, in main git.checkout(dest_dir, checkout_version) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/git.py", line 393, in checkout git.checkout('--force', '--quiet', rev) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/sh.py", line 1428, in __call__ return RunningCommand(cmd, call_args, stdin, stdout, stderr) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/sh.py", line 775, in __init__ self.wait() File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/sh.py", line 793, in wait self.handle_command_exit_code(exit_code) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/scap/sh.py", line 816, in handle_command_exit_code raise exc ErrorReturnCode_1: RAN: /usr/bin/git checkout --force --quiet wmf/1.36.0-wmf.3 STDOUT: STDERR: error: pathspec 'wmf/1.36.0-wmf.3' did not match any file(s) known to git 23:59:42 prep failed: <ErrorReturnCode_1> RAN: /usr/bin/git checkout --force --quiet wmf/1.36.0-wmf.3 STDOUT: STDERR: error: pathspec 'wmf/1.36.0-wmf.3' did not match any file(s) known to git
A better error message would say "branch doesn't exist" or something like that. I realise it may be hard to deduce the reason why git failed from its output. However, the Python stack trace really doesn't help, either, and that's on Scap.