Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@danieldogeanu

danieldogeanu/RenameGitBranch.md

Last active October 25, 2024 16:35
Show Gist options
  • Save danieldogeanu/739f88ea5312aaa23180e162e3ae89ab to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save danieldogeanu/739f88ea5312aaa23180e162e3ae89ab to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
How to rename your Git master branch to main.
Raw
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

If this was useful, you can buy me a coffee here. Thank you!

@bitsondatadev
Copy link

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?

@angles-n-daemons
Copy link

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

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment