/* Remotes are only allowed to fetch actual refs */
        if (remote) {
                char *ref = NULL;
-               const char *refname, *colon = NULL;
-
-               colon = strchr(name, ':');
-               if (colon)
-                       refname = xstrndup(name, colon - name);
-               else
-                       refname = name;
-
-               if (!dwim_ref(refname, strlen(refname), sha1, &ref))
-                       die("no such ref: %s", refname);
-               if (refname != name)
-                       free((void *)refname);
+               const char *colon = strchr(name, ':');
+               int refnamelen = colon ? colon - name : strlen(name);
+
+               if (!dwim_ref(name, refnamelen, sha1, &ref))
+                       die("no such ref: %.*s", refnamelen, name);
                free(ref);
        }