Как изменить default branch github

If you’ve been using Git for a while, you’ve probably come across the term master. You might’ve seen it when you run git status or git branch.

It’s a somewhat old-fashioned phrase and you may well be wondering where it comes from or how you can change it. Whether you’re a command-line user or a fan of GitHub, you can change branch names and even set the default branch name to something appropriate to your needs.

What Is the Default Branch?

Every brand new Git repository has a default branch, even if it doesn’t really branch off anything! Branches are simply commit references, and there’s always a HEAD reference pointing to the current branch.

Historically, Git has named that default branch master. Although you can rename it, many people stick with the default, so you’ll see lots of projects using master as their default branch.

Branch Naming and Why Master Is Being Phased Out

Recent versions of Git (2.28 and later) produce the following hint when you create a new repository using git init:

Using ‘master’ as the name for the initial branch. This default branch name is subject to change. To configure the initial branch name to use in all of your new repositories, which will suppress this warning, call: git config —global init.defaultBranch <name> Names commonly chosen instead of ‘master’ are ‘main’, ‘trunk’ and ‘development’. The just-created branch can be renamed via this command: git branch -m <name>

The master/slave terminology has a long history in computing, especially in reference to hardware such as disk drives. Other version control systems such as BitKeeper, a predecessor to Git, have also used the term. However, the term has become somewhat outdated for its association with colonialism.

The Git maintainers have worked with the wider development community to address these concerns. Aside from any offense it may cause, master isn’t a particularly descriptive name anyway. It implies a relationship with some other, unnamed entity, but it doesn’t represent the unique status of the initial branch. Many people consider the name main to do a better job of describing this branch and its typical usage.

The name main is short, translates easily, and is in common use. The fact that it begins with the same two letters as master may help if you need to retrain your muscle memory.

How to Make the Change Using Command Line Git

As Git itself explains, you can configure the default branch name with the following command:

 git config --global init.defaultBranch main 

The —global ensures this setting applies to all repositories created by the current user.

Once set, new repositories will use the new default name:

 $ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /private/tmp/bar/.git/
$ git status -sb
## No commits yet on main 

Note that you can also rename a branch at any time using the -m option, e.g.

 git branch -m main 

One day, Git may make this change for you, by using the name main by default, for all new repositories. It’s still useful to know how to change it yourself, and you may have a personal or team preference for a name other than main.

How to Set the Default Branch Name in GitHub

Branches created on GitHub are now automatically named main instead of master. However, you can still change the name of this default by following these steps:

1. Open Settings via your profile photo in the top-right.
2. Click Repositories in the left-hand menu.
3. Under the Repository default branch section, choose an alternative name.
4. Click Update.

Take Control of Git’s Default Branch Name

Git has historically named its default branch master, but you don’t have to keep it that way!

Whether you think an alternative is more inclusive, easier to understand, or simply shorter to type, it’s easy to change. The default branch is just one tiny part of Git’s enormous repertoire. To take your Git skill from beginner to advanced, check out our comprehensive guide next.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) points out that «Master-slave is an oppressive metaphor that will and should never become fully detached from history» as well as «In addition to being inappropriate and arcane, the master-slave metaphor is both technically and historically inaccurate.» There’s lots of more accurate options depending on context and it costs me nothing to change my vocabulary, especially if it is one less little speed bump to getting a new person excited about tech.

You might say, «I’m all for not using master in master-slave technical relationships, but this is clearly an instance of master-copy, not master-slave.»

UPDATE: There is Good analysis of the whole main branch convo in the Git Rev News: Edition 65. Git likely uses master in the context of «master copy» or «master recording.»

So we see that while the word master doesn’t always connote slave, for many, it’s evocative via basic word-association and they just don’t want to look at the word on their prompt all day. Choice is cool.

I have had dozens of git repositories that have ‘master’ as the main branch. Changing that would be a hassle right?

Let’s see. I’ll just «git branch -m master main» and then push it back! Remember that -m is —move so your history isn’t changed! Even better I can «git push -u origin main» to set the upstream at the same time.

D:githubWindowsTerminalHere [master]
> git branch -m master main
D:githubWindowsTerminalHere [main]
> git push -u origin main
Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote:
remote: Create a pull request for 'main' on GitHub by visiting:
remote:      https://github.com/shanselman/WindowsTerminalHere/pull/new/main
remote:
To https://github.com/shanselman/WindowsTerminalHere.git
 * [new branch]      HEAD -> main

That was easy.

NOTE: Changing the default branch to «main» also has the benefit of starting with «ma» so that autocomplete <TAB> muscle memory still works. Another great option for your main github branch is «latest.» The goal is to just be unambiguous.

Now I just need to change my default branch in my GitHub settings for my repository.

I can also update the tracking branch manually as seen here, but if you use git push -u origin main it’ll do both.

git branch -u origin/main main

The last thing to think about is if you have a CI/CD, GitHub Action, Azure DevOps pipeline or some other build system that pulls a specific branch. You’ll just change that to main. However, usually unless your CI explicitly calls for a branch by name, changing master to main will «just work!»

NOTE: For more complex repos also check your protected branch rules.

This is because -m is —move and all your reflog is unchanged!

TL;DR in conclusion:

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

Updating local clones

If someone has a local clone, then can update their locals like this:

$ 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

From the tweet above (Thanks Brad from XUnit.net!), these steps

1. Go to the master branch
2. Rename master to main locally
3. Get the latest commits from the server
4. Remove the link to origin/master
5. Add a link to origin/main
6. Update the default branch to be origin/main

You can add an alias «git new» that will default to whatever starting branch you like. (NOTE: This is no longer needed, set below)

git config --global alias.new '!git init && git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/main'

UPDATE! As of Git 2.28 you don’t need an alias as above, as there is a new config option called init.DefaultBranch. Just set it and forget it.

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Hope this helps! Other good names are latest, trunk, and stable!

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