diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommandTest.java
index ae4db0b7d..509adc2cb 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommandTest.java
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileBasedConfig;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.TreeWalk;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.IO;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class RepoCommandTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
@@ -749,9 +751,55 @@ public void testRevisionBare() throws Exception {
 			String gitlink = localDb.resolve(Constants.HEAD + ":foo").name();
 			assertEquals("The gitlink is same as remote head",
 					oldCommitId.name(), gitlink);
+
+			File dotmodules = new File(localDb.getWorkTree(),
+					Constants.DOT_GIT_MODULES);
+			assertTrue(dotmodules.exists());
+			// The .gitmodules file should have "branch" lines
+			String gitModulesContents = RawParseUtils
+					.decode(IO.readFully(dotmodules));
+			assertTrue(gitModulesContents.contains("branch = branch"));
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testRevisionBare_ignoreTags() throws Exception {
+		Repository remoteDb = createBareRepository();
+		Repository tempDb = createWorkRepository();
+
+		StringBuilder xmlContent = new StringBuilder();
+		xmlContent.append("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n")
+				.append("<manifest>")
+				.append("<remote name=\"remote1\" fetch=\".\" />")
+				.append("<default revision=\"").append("refs/tags/" + TAG)
+				.append("\" remote=\"remote1\" />")
+				.append("<project path=\"foo\" name=\"")
+				.append(defaultUri)
+				.append("\" />").append("</manifest>");
+		JGitTestUtil.writeTrashFile(tempDb, "manifest.xml",
+				xmlContent.toString());
+		RepoCommand command = new RepoCommand(remoteDb);
+		command.setPath(
+				tempDb.getWorkTree().getAbsolutePath() + "/manifest.xml")
+				.setURI(rootUri).call();
+		// Clone it
+		File directory = createTempDirectory("testReplaceManifestBare");
+		File dotmodules;
+		try (Repository localDb = Git.cloneRepository().setDirectory(directory)
+				.setURI(remoteDb.getDirectory().toURI().toString()).call()
+				.getRepository()) {
+			dotmodules = new File(localDb.getWorkTree(),
+					Constants.DOT_GIT_MODULES);
+			assertTrue(dotmodules.exists());
+		}
+
+		// The .gitmodules file should not have "branch" lines
+		String gitModulesContents = RawParseUtils
+				.decode(IO.readFully(dotmodules));
+		assertFalse(gitModulesContents.contains("branch"));
+		assertTrue(gitModulesContents.contains("ref = refs/tags/" + TAG));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testCopyFileBare() throws Exception {
 		Repository remoteDb = createBareRepository();
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
index c039aaffa..5bf95def9 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/gitrepo/RepoCommand.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.DEFAULT_REMOTE_NAME;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.R_REMOTES;
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.R_TAGS;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -587,8 +588,11 @@ public RevCommit call() throws GitAPIException {
 							throw new RemoteUnavailableException(url);
 						}
 						if (recordRemoteBranch) {
-							// can be branch or tag
-							cfg.setString("submodule", name, "branch", //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+							// "branch" field is only for non-tag references.
+							// Keep tags in "ref" field as hint for other tools.
+							String field = proj.getRevision().startsWith(
+									R_TAGS) ? "ref" : "branch"; //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+							cfg.setString("submodule", name, field, //$NON-NLS-1$
 									proj.getRevision());
 						}