Renaming the default branch from master to main on Github

Renaming the default branch from master to main on Github.

Overview

Based on the suggestion by the Conservancy, GitHub renamed the master branch to main branch.
To learn more about the changes, see The default branch for newly-created repositories is now main.

Steps

Rename local master branch

git branch -m master main

Push main to remote repo

git push -u origin main

Update default branch on Github

Open GitHub repository in the browser, click Settings -> Branches and change the default branch to main.

Or using GitHub REST API.

curl \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  -H "Authorization: token {access_token}" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo} \
  -d '{"default_branch":"main"}'

Delete master branch

git push --delete origin master

Changing the default for new local repositories

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Using github-renaming

github-renaming, renaming the default branch of our own repositories on GitHub easily.

gem install github-renaming
github-renaming default-branch <old-branch> <new-branch> -t <token> -r <user/repo>

References

• https://docs.github.com/cn/github/administering-a-repository/managing-branches-in-your-repository/changing-the-default-branch
• https://github.com/github/renaming
• https://www.hanselman.com/blog/easily-rename-your-git-default-branch-from-master-to-main
• https://docs.github.com/cn/rest/reference/repos
• https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/git#create-a-reference