diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index 1ad26f4d8c81b3..d28b4d4bc52014 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -780,11 +780,11 @@ static int checkout(int submodule_progress)
 	if (!strcmp(head, "HEAD")) {
 		if (advice_detached_head)
 			detach_advice(oid_to_hex(&oid));
+		FREE_AND_NULL(head);
 	} else {
 		if (!starts_with(head, "refs/heads/"))
 			die(_("HEAD not found below refs/heads!"));
 	}
-	free(head);
 
 	/* We need to be in the new work tree for the checkout */
 	setup_work_tree();
@@ -799,6 +799,7 @@ static int checkout(int submodule_progress)
 	opts.verbose_update = (option_verbosity >= 0);
 	opts.src_index = &the_index;
 	opts.dst_index = &the_index;
+	init_checkout_metadata(&opts.meta, head, &oid, NULL);
 
 	tree = parse_tree_indirect(&oid);
 	parse_tree(tree);
@@ -806,6 +807,8 @@ static int checkout(int submodule_progress)
 	if (unpack_trees(1, &t, &opts) < 0)
 		die(_("unable to checkout working tree"));
 
+	free(head);
+
 	if (write_locked_index(&the_index, &lock_file, COMMIT_LOCK))
 		die(_("unable to write new index file"));
 
diff --git a/t/t0021-conversion.sh b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
index 4b8d6a74a78599..ad329044a35a47 100755
--- a/t/t0021-conversion.sh
+++ b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
@@ -748,7 +748,8 @@ test_expect_success PERL 'delayed checkout in process filter' '
 	) &&
 
 	S=$(file_size "$TEST_ROOT/test.o") &&
-	M="blob=$(git -C repo rev-parse --verify master:test.a)" &&
+	PM="ref=refs/heads/master treeish=$(git -C repo rev-parse --verify master) " &&
+	M="${PM}blob=$(git -C repo rev-parse --verify master:test.a)" &&
 	cat >a.exp <<-EOF &&
 		START
 		init handshake complete
@@ -789,8 +790,11 @@ test_expect_success PERL 'delayed checkout in process filter' '
 
 		rm *.a *.b &&
 		filter_git checkout . &&
-		test_cmp_count ../a.exp a.log &&
-		test_cmp_count ../b.exp b.log &&
+		# We are not checking out a ref here, so filter out ref metadata.
+		sed -e "s!$PM!!" ../a.exp >a.exp.filtered &&
+		sed -e "s!$PM!!" ../b.exp >b.exp.filtered &&
+		test_cmp_count a.exp.filtered a.log &&
+		test_cmp_count b.exp.filtered b.log &&
 
 		test_cmp_committed_rot13 "$TEST_ROOT/test.o" test.a &&
 		test_cmp_committed_rot13 "$TEST_ROOT/test.o" test-delay10.a &&