diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
index bcc46c355..bb51fc4ca 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsGarbageCollector.java
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectIdSet;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ProgressMonitor;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.RefDatabase;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevWalk;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackConfig;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.pack.PackStatistics;
@@ -78,9 +79,7 @@
 /** Repack and garbage collect a repository. */
 public class DfsGarbageCollector {
 	private final DfsRepository repo;
-
-	private final DfsRefDatabase refdb;
-
+	private final RefDatabase refdb;
 	private final DfsObjDatabase objdb;
 
 	private final List<DfsPackDescription> newPackDesc;
@@ -195,7 +194,7 @@ public boolean pack(ProgressMonitor pm) throws IOException {
 
 		ctx = (DfsReader) objdb.newReader();
 		try {
-			refdb.clearCache();
+			refdb.refresh();
 			objdb.clearCache();
 
 			refsBefore = refdb.getRefs(ALL);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRefDatabase.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRefDatabase.java
index a1035a128..e5469f6b8 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRefDatabase.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRefDatabase.java
@@ -261,6 +261,11 @@ public void create() {
 		// Nothing to do.
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void refresh() {
+		clearCache();
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public void close() {
 		clearCache();
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRepository.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRepository.java
index 0d5fd0f85..ef8845084 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRepository.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/dfs/DfsRepository.java
@@ -79,9 +79,6 @@ protected DfsRepository(DfsRepositoryBuilder builder) {
 	@Override
 	public abstract DfsObjDatabase getObjectDatabase();
 
-	@Override
-	public abstract DfsRefDatabase getRefDatabase();
-
 	/** @return a description of this repository. */
 	public DfsRepositoryDescription getDescription() {
 		return description;
@@ -95,7 +92,10 @@ public DfsRepositoryDescription getDescription() {
 	 *             the repository cannot be checked.
 	 */
 	public boolean exists() throws IOException {
-		return getRefDatabase().exists();
+		if (getRefDatabase() instanceof DfsRefDatabase) {
+			return ((DfsRefDatabase) getRefDatabase()).exists();
+		}
+		return true;
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ public StoredConfig getConfig() {
 
 	@Override
 	public void scanForRepoChanges() throws IOException {
-		getRefDatabase().clearCache();
+		getRefDatabase().refresh();
 		getObjectDatabase().clearCache();
 	}