MasterToMain

MasterToMain lets you change an old default branch on github or github enterprise to a new branch. For example, if you wanted to change master to main.

While master does have meanings that connote expertise or original record, it also has meanings that have much more oppressive and violent histories. Whether or not the original meaning of master branch was in reference to original record or the opposite of slave matters less than what it may mean to a reader who doesn't want to bother with the history of git.

Per the twitter thread below, maybe we can just think of it as:

Agreed. All it does is make the world a tiny bit more welcoming.

Thanks to @shanselman for the suggestion.

You need ruby and rubygems to use master_to_main. With ruby gems installed you can simply run

$ gem install master_to_main

MasterToMain has 3 actions:

1. update - Update github, pull requests, branch protections, local origin
2. update_local - For people to use after update to update the local clone
3. update_docs - If you just want to search docs for github urls.

master_to_main update

After filling out the relevant prompts you will be able to:

1. Create a new branch (e.g. main) if it does not exist.
2. Clone all branch protections from an old branch.
   • Caveat: This does not include the signed commit requirement
3. Change the default branch of your repository
4. Rebase all pull requests based on your old branch to your new branch
5. Change the local origin remote value in github.

You will be prompted for:

1. Your "github" (e.g. "github.com" or "github.mycompany.com", default is based on Fetch URL of origin or "github.com")
2. Your user (default is based on Fetch URL of origin or whoami)
3. The repository you want to update (default is based on Fetch URL of origin or pwd)
4. The current default branch (default is master)
5. The desired default branch (default is main)
6. Your personal access token (instructions for settings one can be found here)
   • You should enable "repo" access

master_to_main update_local

This will perform the following (assuming "master" and "main")

$ 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

All credit for this goes to "Brad from XUnit.net!" per Scott's Blog.

master_to_main update_docs

This will attempt to update all references to commits on the master branch with commits on the main branch.

• Testing would be nice

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/dewyze/master_to_main. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

Everyone interacting in the MasterToMain project’s codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.