"Git fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref" while using maven release plugin

I get the following error output while running the Maven release plugin prepare step i.e. `mvn release:prepare --batch-mode -DreleaseVersion=1.1.2 -DdevelopmentVersion=1.2.0-SNAPSHOT -Dtag=v1.1.2 -X` from an Atlassian Bamboo plan. However doing the same in the command line works fine. The full error stack is below. Any ideas how can this be solved? ``` [ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.4.2:prepare (default-cli) on project hpcmom: An error is occurred in the checkin process: Exception while executing SCM command. Detecting the current branch failed: fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref -> [Help 1] org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.4.2:prepare (default-cli) on project hpcmom: An error is occurred in the checkin process: Exception while executing SCM command. at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:217) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:84) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:59) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.singleThreadedBuild(LifecycleStarter.java:183) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:161) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:320) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:156) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:537) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:196) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:141) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:290) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:230) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:409) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:352) Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: An error is occurred in the checkin process: Exception while executing SCM command. at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.prepareRelease(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:281) at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.execute(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:232) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:101) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:209) ... 19 more Caused by: org.apache.maven.shared.release.ReleaseExecutionException: An error is occurred in the checkin process: Exception while executing SCM command. at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractScmCommitPhase.checkin(AbstractScmCommitPhase.java:160) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractScmCommitPhase.performCheckins(AbstractScmCommitPhase.java:145) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.ScmCommitPreparationPhase.runLogic(ScmCommitPreparationPhase.java:76) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractScmCommitPhase.execute(AbstractScmCommitPhase.java:78) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:234) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:169) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:146) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:107) at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.prepareRelease(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:277) ... 22 more Caused by: org.apache.maven.scm.ScmException: Exception while executing SCM command. at org.apache.maven.scm.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:63) at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.git.AbstractGitScmProvider.executeCommand(AbstractGitScmProvider.java:291) at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.git.AbstractGitScmProvider.checkin(AbstractGitScmProvider.java:217) at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.AbstractScmProvider.checkIn(AbstractScmProvider.java:410) at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractScmCommitPhase.checkin(AbstractScmCommitPhase.java:156) ... 30 more Caused by: org.apache.maven.scm.ScmException: Detecting the current branch failed: fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.git.gitexe.command.branch.GitBranchCommand.getCurrentBranch(GitBranchCommand.java:147) at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.git.gitexe.command.checkin.GitCheckInCommand.createPushCommandLine(GitCheckInCommand.java:192) at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.git.gitexe.command.checkin.GitCheckInCommand.executeCheckInCommand(GitCheckInCommand.java:132) at org.apache.maven.scm.command.checkin.AbstractCheckInCommand.executeCommand(AbstractCheckInCommand.java:54) at org.apache.maven.scm.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:59) ... 34 more [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles: [ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoExecutionException simple 02-Dec-2013 17:18:09 Failing task since return code of [/opt/dev/apache-maven/3.0.5//bin/mvn -Djava.io.tmpdir=/opt/atlassian/bamboo/5.2.1/temp/HPCMOM-RELEASE-JOB1 release:prepare --batch-mode -DignoreSnapshots=false -DreleaseVersion=1.1.2 -DdevelopmentVersion=1.2.0-SNAPSHOT -Dtag=v1.1.2 -X] was 1 while expected 0 ``` UPDATE: Doing `git ls-remote .` on a local workspace clone produces: ``` azg@olympus:~/code/hpcmom$ git ls-remote . 7894eea08a0afecb99515d1339623be63a7539d4 HEAD 7894eea08a0afecb99515d1339623be63a7539d4 refs/heads/master 7894eea08a0afecb99515d1339623be63a7539d4 refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 7894eea08a0afecb99515d1339623be63a7539d4 refs/remotes/origin/master 6a7095b86cccdfd4b28e4dea633d0930809ae9ac refs/tags/v1.0 1a53462b1ecf0abfea8245016304cda9c78b420d refs/tags/v1.0^{} 5113a7cbcf35c47b680a9c36e15e5fa01ef1d2e6 refs/tags/v1.1 79a3073ecabe65d3c8051520f8007d9e49a65a06 refs/tags/v1.1^{} a00249209597ea1214d80ee38f228c40db7022c2 refs/tags/v1.1.0 e892bce8d25d87368ab557fee0d30810bef7e31e refs/tags/v1.1.0^{} b491a312c39088533cb069e4ab1ae8a00d1f6bfe refs/tags/v1.1.2 a3f7618dada7ed60d8190426152ffd90e0e40a86 refs/tags/v1.1.2^{} ``` Doing `git ls-remote .` on the Bamboo clone produces: ``` azg@olympus:/var/atlassian/application-data/bamboo/xml-data/build-dir/HPCMOM-RELEASE-JOB1$ git ls-remote . 2422ce066ac35dae3c54f1435ef8dae5008a9a14 HEAD 57c08d581c0fd9e788049733fbdc9c22b9a6ae00 refs/heads/master 57c08d581c0fd9e788049733fbdc9c22b9a6ae00 refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 57c08d581c0fd9e788049733fbdc9c22b9a6ae00 refs/remotes/origin/master 7539f9700d78a1b766fca7ed9f409914f1ea9d08 refs/tags/vnull 6bfa8c3fdb1f8f56a385035f01b1b77b6e88da8b refs/tags/vnull^{} ``` and this is very weird why is the local development clone output so different from the Bamboo one?