die("Cannot setup tracking information; starting point is not a branch.");
                break;
        case 1:
-               /* Unique completion -- good, only if it is a real ref */
-               if (explicit_tracking && !strcmp(real_ref, "HEAD"))
-                       die("Cannot setup tracking information; starting point is not a branch.");
+               /* Unique completion -- good, only if it is a real branch */
+               if (prefixcmp(real_ref, "refs/heads/") &&
+                   prefixcmp(real_ref, "refs/remotes/")) {
+                       if (explicit_tracking)
+                               die("Cannot setup tracking information; starting point is not a branch.");
+                       else
+                               real_ref = NULL;
+               }
                break;
        default:
                die("Ambiguous object name: '%s'.", start_name);