How to rename your Git master branch to main.

RenameGitBranch.md

To rename your Git master branch to main, you must do the following steps:

1. Navigate to your repository in the command line and issue the following commands: - git branch -m master main - git push -u origin main

2. Change your default branch on GitHub by going to your GitHub repository in your browser, and navigate to Settings > Branches and click on the dropdown and switch from master to main and click Update (this will only show if you have two or more branches). The main branch is now your default branch.

3. Update the tracking of the branch from your command line with the following command: - git branch -u origin/main main

4. Delete the old master branch by going to your GitHub repository in your browser, navigate to your branches page, and click the Delete this branch button (the red trash bin icon). Your master branch is now gone.

If someone has a local clone of your repository, they can update their locals by following these steps:

1. Got to the master branch: git checkout master
2. Rename master to main locally: git branch -m master main
3. Get the latest commits from the server: git fetch
4. Remove the link to origin/master: git branch --unset-upstream
5. Add a link to origin/main: git branch -u origin/main
6. Update the default branch to be origin/main: git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main
7. Delete origin/master completely: git branch --remotes -d origin/master

Thanks Scott Hanselman for the instructions, you can read the full article here: Easily rename your Git default branch from master to main

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This arbitrary change by github from master to main is killing me

The change comes from terminology concerns related to the Black Lives Matter movement so it's not arbitrary. I agree it isn't pleasant, but if it makes even a few BIPOC developers feel more accepted, I'd say it's the right move.

@bitsondatadev Interesting, thanks for the reference. The More You Know! 🌈

There is no 'slave' or subordinate in git (as opposed to RAID, distributed systems, etc.) so not sure why that was the impetus for Github, but oh well. I wish the original git whitepapers had happened to name it main back then... it IS a way more concise term for its function. And as the old saying goes: a rose is a rose by any other name except when they break your code ;)

Yeah, it's a small price to pay and GitHub has handled everything server-side, but I get it, it still isn't fun. When technology meets humans it isn't always optimal from a technological perspective, but without kindness and humanity what's the point of technology?

Hi, going through this recently - the default branch configuration was in Settings > General

This was the top search result. Found the setting to change it at Settings > General

This was the top search result. Found the setting to change it at Settings > General

Oh, this is awesome! Thanks for letting me know! I'll update my gist soon! 😊

How do I change the name of default branch on a gist?

How do I change the name of default branch on a gist?

Honestly, I didn't even know you could do that. But I think you can manually rename the branch by cloning the gist to your local machine and pushing a new branch name:

• Clone your Gist: git clone https://gist.github.com/<id>.git
• Rename locally: git branch -m master main
• Push the new branch: git push -u origin main
• Delete the old one: git push origin --delete master

You can get the https://gist.github.com/<id>.git from the top-right part of the gist page, where it says Embed. You click on it and select Clone via SSH.

PS: These are AI instructions, I'm not sure that they work, I haven't tried them!

I actually tried it before writing here - hence why I found this thread. If I delete master and push to main, everything disappears and the gist looks empty. Interestingly, when I pushed to a branch HEAD, it works. So I guess I can either use master or HEAD.

git push origin main:HEAD -u

This way I can use main locally and link it to the HEAD on the remote, without the need for master.