Since 1st October of 2020, all the new repositories on Github have their default name defined as main
.
If you have created repositories before that date, all of your branches are named as master
.
GitHub and the wider Git community are gradually transitioning the default branch name from master
to main
and it is slowly becoming a standard within the community.
In this article, we will walk through, step by step, to learn how we can easily rename the branch's name.
Step 1. Select your repository
- On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.
- Above the list of files, click Code.
- Copy the link.
Step 2. Clone it into your local machine
- Open your terminal.
- Change the current working directory to the location where you want to save the project.
- Type
git clone
, plus the URL you copied earlier.
Awesome! Now you have your repository saved in your machine.
Step 3. Modify the branch name:
Still in your terminal, access the root folder of your project with cd and execute the following:
git branch -m master main
This command will create a new branch called main
and checkout into this new one. The complementary -m
will move all the commit history from master into your brand new main
branch.
Step 4. Remove the “master”.
Now it is the time to finally delete your old branch.
- Execute the following command, it will set your local machine to start monitoring the new branch. It will also update your remote Github repository.
git push -u origin main
- Now we need to point the HEAD to the current branch reference. To do that, do the following:
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main
- At this stage, you can double-check your tree.
git branch -a
4- At your Github repository, in the Setting's section, go to the branches section and switch the default branch to “main”. See the image below.
5- Go back to your terminal and delete the old branch.
It will be deleted locally (your machine) and remotely (from your Github).
git push origin --delete master
Step 5. Celebrate!
You have done such a great job! 😎
Be proud of yourself and thanks for your interest in that matter.
Discussion (0)