Git Using Main Branch

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David Sangrey edited this page Jun 3, 2024 · 2 revisions

Using 'main' as the primary branch in Git

This project uses 'main', instead of 'master', for its primary branch.

If you had previously cloned with 'master' as the primary then you should follow these steps to migrate:

git checkout master
git branch -m master main
git fetch
git branch --unset-upstream
git branch -u origin/main
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main

These steps are:

Go to the master branch
Rename master to main locally
Get the latest commits from the server
Remove the link to origin/master
Add a link to origin/main
Update the default branch to be origin/main

See Contributing.md for an outline of the other branches we use.

Migrating your own project from 'master' to 'main'

We followed the instructions at https://www.hanselman.com/blog/EasilyRenameYourGitDefaultBranchFromMasterToMain.aspx , which boil down to:

git checkout master
git fetch origin
git branch -m master main
git push -u origin main