diff --git a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching.rst b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching.rst
index 93ac18b78a..37c7bcc8e0 100644
--- a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching.rst
+++ b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching.rst
@@ -405,8 +405,8 @@ This fetcher supports the following parameters:
 
 -  *"nobranch":* Tells the fetcher to not check the SHA validation for
    the branch when set to "1". The default is "0". Set this option for
-   the recipe that refers to the commit that is valid for a tag instead
-   of the branch.
+   the recipe that refers to the commit that is valid for a any namespace
+   instead of the branch.
 
 -  *"bareclone":* Tells the fetcher to clone a bare clone into the
    destination directory without checking out a working tree. Only the
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
index 2868aa5d53..b8e00ced3c 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Supported SRC_URI options are:
 
 - nobranch
    Don't check the SHA validation for branch. set this option for the recipe
-   referring to commit which is valid in tag instead of branch.
+   referring to commit which is valid in any namespace instead of branch.
    The default is "0", set nobranch=1 if needed.
 
 - usehead
@@ -366,7 +366,11 @@ class Git(FetchMethod):
               runfetchcmd("%s remote rm origin" % ud.basecmd, d, workdir=ud.clonedir)
 
             runfetchcmd("%s remote add --mirror=fetch origin %s" % (ud.basecmd, shlex.quote(repourl)), d, workdir=ud.clonedir)
-            fetch_cmd = "LANG=C %s fetch -f --progress %s refs/*:refs/*" % (ud.basecmd, shlex.quote(repourl))
+
+            if ud.nobranch:
+                fetch_cmd = "LANG=C %s fetch -f --progress %s refs/*:refs/*" % (ud.basecmd, shlex.quote(repourl))
+            else:
+                fetch_cmd = "LANG=C %s fetch -f --progress %s refs/heads/*:refs/heads/* refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*" % (ud.basecmd, shlex.quote(repourl))
             if ud.proto.lower() != 'file':
                 bb.fetch2.check_network_access(d, fetch_cmd, ud.url)
             progresshandler = GitProgressHandler(d)