gistfile1.txt

CentOS release 5.5 (Final)
[rfay@scratchvm tmp]$ git clone git://git.drupal.org/project/examples -b 6.x-1.x
error: unknown switch `b'
usage: git-clone [options] [--] <repo> [<dir>]

    -n, --no-checkout     don't create a checkout
    --bare                create a bare repository
    --naked               create a bare repository
    -l, --local           to clone from a local repository
    --no-hardlinks        don't use local hardlinks, always copy
    -s, --shared          setup as a shared repository
    --template ...        path to the template directory
    -q, --quiet           be quiet
    --reference ...       reference repository
    -o, --origin ...      use <name> instead of 'origin' to track upstream
    -u, --upload-pack ...
                          path to git-upload-pack on the remote
    --depth ...           create a shallow clone of that depth
    --use-separate-remote
                          compatibility, do not use
    --no-separate-remote  compatibility, do not use

hmm. git checkout -b

git checkout -b doesn't create a tracking branch, just a detached head, before about 7.3

[rfay@scratchvm tmp]$ git clone git://git.drupal.org/project/examples
Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/examples/.git/
remote: Counting objects: 1526, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (430/430), done.
remote: Total 1526 (delta 1088), reused 1526 (delta 1088)
Receiving objects: 100% (1526/1526), 388.15 KiB, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1088/1088), done.
[rfay@scratchvm tmp]$ cd examples/
[rfay@scratchvm examples]$ git branch -r
origin/6.x-1.x
origin/7.x-1.x
origin/HEAD
origin/master
[rfay@scratchvm examples]$ git checkout --track origin/6.x-1.x
fatal: git checkout: --track and --no-track require -b
[rfay@scratchvm examples]$ git checkout --track origin/6.x-1.x -b 6.x-1.x
Branch 6.x-1.x set up to track remote branch refs/remotes/origin/6.x-1.x.
Switched to a new branch "6.x-1.x"