Get or set the default Git branch — git-default-branch • usethis

The git_default_branch*() functions put some structure around the somewhat fuzzy (but definitely real) concept of the default branch. In particular, they support new conventions around the Git default branch name, globally or in a specific project / Git repository.

Usage

git_default_branch()

git_default_branch_configure(name = "main")

git_default_branch_rediscover(current_local_default = NULL)

git_default_branch_rename(from = NULL, to = "main")

Arguments

name: Default name for the initial branch in new Git repositories.
current_local_default: Name of the local branch that is currently functioning as the default branch. If unspecified, this can often be inferred.
from: Name of the branch that is currently functioning as the default branch.
to: New name for the default branch.

Value

Name of the default branch.

Background on the default branch

Technically, Git has no official concept of the default branch. But in reality, almost all Git repos have an effective default branch. If there's only one branch, this is it! It is the branch that most bug fixes and features get merged in to. It is the branch you see when you first visit a repo on a site such as GitHub. On a Git remote, it is the branch that HEAD points to.

Historically, master has been the most common name for the default branch, but main is an increasingly popular choice.

`git_default_branch_configure()`

This configures init.defaultBranch at the global (a.k.a user) level. This setting determines the name of the branch that gets created when you make the first commit in a new Git repo. init.defaultBranch only affects the local Git repos you create in the future.

`git_default_branch()`

This figures out the default branch of the current Git repo, integrating information from the local repo and, if applicable, the upstream or origin remote. If there is a local vs. remote mismatch, git_default_branch() throws an error with advice to call git_default_branch_rediscover() to repair the situation.

For a remote repo, the default branch is the branch that HEAD points to.

For the local repo, if there is only one branch, that must be the default! Otherwise we try to identify the relevant local branch by looking for specific branch names, in this order:

whatever the default branch of upstream or origin is, if applicable
main
master
the value of the Git option init.defaultBranch, with the usual deal where a local value, if present, takes precedence over a global (a.k.a. user-level) value

`git_default_branch_rediscover()`

This consults an external authority -- specifically, the remote source repo on GitHub -- to learn the default branch of the current project / repo. If that doesn't match the apparent local default branch (for example, the project switched from master to main), we do the corresponding branch renaming in your local repo and, if relevant, in your fork.

See https://happygitwithr.com/common-remote-setups.html for more about GitHub remote configurations and, e.g., what we mean by the source repo. This function works for the configurations "ours", "fork", and "theirs".

`git_default_branch_rename()`

Note: this only works for a repo that you effectively own. In terms of GitHub, you must own the source repo personally or, if organization-owned, you must have admin permission on the source repo.

This renames the default branch in the source repo on GitHub and then calls git_default_branch_rediscover(), to make any necessary changes in the local repo and, if relevant, in your personal fork.

Regarding "no_github": Of course, this function does what you expect for a local repo with no GitHub remotes, but that is not the primary use case.

Examples

if (FALSE) {
git_default_branch()
}
if (FALSE) {
git_default_branch_configure()
}
if (FALSE) {
git_default_branch_rediscover()

# you can always explicitly specify the local branch that's been playing the
# role of the default
git_default_branch_rediscover("unconventional_default_branch_name")
}
if (FALSE) {
git_default_branch_rename()

# you can always explicitly specify one or both branch names
git_default_branch_rename(from = "this", to = "that")
}