Hi,

On Mon, 2 Mar 2009, Tor Arne Vestbø wrote:

> The options --branch and -b allow the user to override the initial 
> branch created and checked out by git-clone. Normally this is the active 
> branch of the remote repository, which is also the fallback if the 
> selected branch is not found.

I do not think that falling back if the selected branch is not found is a 
wise choice.

Besides, the common way to check out something different than the remote's 
HEAD is like this:

	$ git clone -n $URL
	$ cd $DIR
	$ git checkout -t origin/$BRANCH

I am undecided if that is good enough, or your patch is needed.

Ciao,
Dscho