Answers: <p>I recently ran into the same error. In my case, I had rebased a branch and was attempting to push to the remote. One of the pulled commits had changed the structure of a few directories, and git refused to push after the rebase, throwing:</p>
  
  <pre><code>fatal: ambiguous argument 'path/to/scripts': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
  Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
  'git &lt;command&gt; [&lt;revision&gt;...] -- [&lt;file&gt;...]'
  Cannot open directory /absolute/path/to/scripts: No such file or directory
  error: failed to push some refs to 'git@host:repo'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tore apart all of my git configs and could not find the cause of this anywhere. The culprit turned out to be a pre-push git hook, left over from some previous config we used to use, which included some operations on the now-defunct directory.</p>
  
  <p>While this clearly wasn't the cause of the OP's issue, thought I'd post this here in case someone else gets bitten. Beware the git hooks...</p>
  
Answers: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers: 2018-03-20T19:47:22.173Z
Answers: 2018-03-20T19:47:22.173Z
Answers: Criminally Inane
Answers: <p>The error looks like you're using a non-existent reference (branch/tag). Try specifying the correct branch and tag using the <code>branch/tag</code> options. You can also use the commit hash directly using <code>ref</code> option. </p>
  
  <p>Also ensure that your git URL is correct (your code does not contain the xxx.git part).</p>
  
Answers: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers: 2017-05-04T14:01:26.057Z
Answers: yes you are right. I used undefined tag so I received that error. giving a correct tag helped to solve this. Thanks @grumpyops
Answers: pandey
Answers: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers: 2017-05-04T08:03:52.497Z
Answers: 2017-05-04T08:03:52.497Z
Answers: grumpyops
Body: <p>when I modified one of my cookbook that I tried to add a cookbook dependency in berks file</p>
  
  <pre><code>cookbook name, '=0.1.0', git: 'ssh://url:xxx/cookbook', tag: '0.0.1'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and then tried to converge it which throws an error </p>
  
  <pre><code>'fatal: ambiguous argument 'master': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:git &lt;command&gt; [&lt;revision&gt;...] -- [&lt;file&gt;...]'on test
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I don't have much clue to explain even..but I can post my explanation as we go. I appreciate your help thank you</p>
  
Tags: <git><chef><gitlab><github>
Title: fatal: ambiguous argument 'master': unknown revision or path not in the working tree
UserDisplayName: pandey
ThreadText: # fatal: ambiguous argument 'master': unknown revision or path not in the working tree
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-05-03)
  
  when I modified one of my cookbook that I tried to add a cookbook dependency in berks file
  
  ```
  cookbook name, '=0.1.0', git: 'ssh://url:xxx/cookbook', tag: '0.0.1'
  
  ```
  
  and then tried to converge it which throws an error
  
  ```
  'fatal: ambiguous argument 'master': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'on test
  
  ```
  
  I don't have much clue to explain even..but I can post my explanation as we go. I appreciate your help thank you
  
  **Tags:** git, chef, gitlab, github
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-05-04. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
  
  The error looks like you're using a non-existent reference (branch/tag). Try specifying the correct branch and tag using the `branch/tag` options. You can also use the commit hash directly using `ref` option.
  
  Also ensure that your git URL is correct (your code does not contain the xxx.git part).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: yes you are right. I used undefined tag so I received that error. giving a correct tag helped to solve this. Thanks @username_2  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2018-03-20. Score: 3
  
  I recently ran into the same error. In my case, I had rebased a branch and was attempting to push to the remote. One of the pulled commits had changed the structure of a few directories, and git refused to push after the rebase, throwing:
  
  ```
  fatal: ambiguous argument 'path/to/scripts': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
  Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
  'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'
  Cannot open directory /absolute/path/to/scripts: No such file or directory
  error: failed to push some refs to 'git@host:repo'
  
  ```
  
  I tore apart all of my git configs and could not find the cause of this anywhere. The culprit turned out to be a pre-push git hook, left over from some previous config we used to use, which included some operations on the now-defunct directory.
  
  While this clearly wasn't the cause of the OP's issue, thought I'd post this here in case someone else gets bitten. Beware the git hooks...
  
  
  ---
  
  