upgrade 2.18.0 to 2.37.2 question

I've built the latest version, 2.37.2 on my CentOS host and am trying
it out to make sure it works before deploying it widely.  I ran into
an error I don't understand "Your configuration specifies to merge
with the ref... but no such ref was fetched".  Searching on the web
turned up posts suggesting that it indicates the remote branch was
deleted, but that is not the case here.  I can pull using 2.18.0, just
not with 2.37.2.  Is there some configuration change which is needed
to switch between the old and the new version of git?

Here's an example:
$ /re/tools/linux-x86_64/opensrc/git/2.18.0/bin/git pull
From http://githost:7990/scm/dp/d2s_sw
 * branch                  feature/switch-to-qt5 -> FETCH_HEAD
Already up to date.

$ /re/tools/linux-x86_64/opensrc/git/2.37.2/bin/git pull
Your configuration specifies to merge with the ref
'refs/heads/feature/switch-to-qt5'
from the remote, but no such ref was fetched.

.. Lana (lana.deere@gmail.com)