this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2025
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So creating a new repo on GitHub, you get a set of getting started steps. They changed the default branchname to "main" from "master" due to its connotations with slavery.

When I create a new repo now, the initial getting started steps recommend creating a branch named "master" as opposed to "main" as it was a while ago.

It's especially weird since the line git branch -M master is completely unnecessary, since git init still sets you up with a "master" branch.

Disclaimer: I have a bunch of private repos, and my default branchnames are pretty much all "master".

Is this a recent change?

Edit: Mystery solved, my default branchname is "master". Thanks [email protected] !

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[–] normalexit 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It's just a word at the end of the day. To me "main" is literally a shorter word that means the same thing in my brain. It could be "trunk" or "release" or whatever else you'd like. "master" makes some people uneasy, so it seems like a simple solution to pick a different word.

The development community talked, informally settled on main, and here we are. Anecdotally it took me more time to write this than to switch most of my projects over. I use GitHub actions and a simple find/replace for a word not otherwise commonly used was the ticket.

I really don't care what other people use at the end of the day. Discussing version control and branching strategies drains my life away. If it is difficult to switch, don't, but if you start a new repo it is worth thinking about for a moment.