title: Why is the Git remote/origins/master branch detached?
body: <p>I have a strange git scenario:  I've been developing on master, and ive noticed that when my CI clones down and attempts to modify a git repository, it doesn't see "master" in the refspec.  Thus, the command </p>
  
  <pre><code>git checkout master
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Fails.  To fix this (as i need my CI to commit some minor updates to master), I tried to do:</p>
  
  <pre><code>git checkout remotes/origin/master
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, that command results in a DETACHED head.  The final fix was that, rather than doing a checkout, I do <code>checkout -b</code> like so:</p>
  
  <pre><code>git checkout -b master
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which magically seems to "create" the master branch which (I thought already exists), and then all is right in the world.</p>
  
  <p>My question is, thus: What is the difference between remotes/origin/master and the master created via <code>git checkout -b</code>?  Since I only have one remote, I would think they would be synonymous.</p>