Have the same problem on Debian (sid/unstable):

$ rosinstall . "http://packages.ros.org/cgi-bin/gen_rosinstall.py?rosdistro=electric&variant=desktop-full&overlay=no"
[..]
Installing https://kforge.ros.org/geometry/kdlclone
orocos_kinematics_dynamics-0.2.0 to
/opt/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics
Cloning into /opt/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics...
remote: Counting objects: 2284, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (885/885), done.
remote: Total 2284 (delta 1496), reused 2092 (delta 1363)
Receiving objects: 100% (2284/2284), 667.50 KiB | 899 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1496/1496), done.
fatal: Cannot setup tracking information; starting point is not a branch.
ERROR: Failed to install tree '/opt/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics'
 vcs not setup correctly

$ git --version
git version 1.7.5.4

$ rosinstall --version
rosinstall 0.5.16

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Tully Foote <tfoote@willowgarage.com> wrote:
> Hi William,
>
> This looks like the git syntax on OSX may be slightly different.  I just
> tested your command on my machine.  The code to look at is vcs/git.py in
> rosinstall which comes from the vcstools package.  I expect that there might
> need to be a special case added for OSX.  Or there might have been a hiccup
> in you connection like here?
> http://answers.ros.org/question/1645/vcs-not-setup-correctly-while-i-install-ros-using
>
> Tully
>
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 3:28 PM, William Woodall <wjwwood@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> When running rosinstall for Electric on OS X I get this error when it gets
>> to kdlclone:
>> Installing https://kforge.ros.org/geometry/kdlclone
>> orocos_kinematics_dynamics-0.2.0 to
>> /Users/william/devel/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics
>> Cloning into
>> /Users/william/devel/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics...
>> remote: Counting objects: 2284, done.
>> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (885/885), done.
>> remote: Total 2284 (delta 1496), reused 2092 (delta 1363)
>> Receiving objects: 100% (2284/2284), 667.50 KiB | 381 KiB/s, done.
>> Resolving deltas: 100% (1496/1496), done.
>> fatal: Cannot setup tracking information; starting point is not a branch.
>> ERROR: Failed to install tree
>> '/Users/william/devel/ros/electric/orocos_kinematics_dynamics'
>>  vcs not setup correctly
>> I am running this command:
>> rosinstall ~/devel/ros/electric
>> "http://packages.ros.org/cgi-bin/gen_rosinstall.py?rosdistro=electric&variant=desktop-full&overlay=no"
>> What logs should I look at to try and resolve this?
>> Thanks,
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> William Woodall
>> Graduate Software Engineering
>> Auburn University
>> w@auburn.edu
>> wjwwood@gmail.com
>> williamjwoodall.com
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> ros-users mailing list
>> ros-users@code.ros.org
>> https://code.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Tully Foote
> Systems Engineer
> Willow Garage, Inc.
> tfoote@willowgarage.com
> (650) 475-2827
>
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>
>



-- 
Kartik