Let's change the name of the default branch to "main"

[rouson]

Please see https://www.zdnet.com/article/github-to-replace-master-with-main-starting-next-month/.

Beside fpm those repositories are currently using master as name for the default branch

• https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib-docs
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm-haskell
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm-registry
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/fortran-lang.org
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/talks
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/benchmarks
• https://github.com/fortran-lang/fftpack

[milancurcic]

👍 from me.

[awvwgk]

From a technical point of view an organisation owner of @fortran-lang or a member with administrator access scope can make the default branch rename at https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/settings/branches. Usually additional migrations are required:

• we have a workflow where the name of the default branch is hard coded
  

  fpm/.github/workflows/docs.yml

  Line 18 in d9dc9f2

  if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.repository == 'fortran-lang/fpm' && ( startsWith( github.ref, 'refs/tags/' ) || github.ref == 'refs/heads/master' )

• we are referencing the default branch name in the fpm help page, documentation and contributing guide lines
• search below for master in this project, lot's of false positives, but some fpm related links are present:

❯ rg master .
./PACKAGING.md
649:`helloff = { git = "https://gitlab.com/everythingfunctional/helloff.git", branch = "master" }`,

./CONTRIBUTING.md
12:[fpm license](https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/blob/master/LICENSE).
24:[Fortran stdlib style guide](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/blob/master/STYLE_GUIDE.md)
38:   Try to reproduce it with the latest version from the master branch.
112:  [Fortran stdlib style guide](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/blob/master/STYLE_GUIDE.md).

./docs.md
5:project_download: https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/archive/master.zip

./src/fpm_command_line.f90
715:    '   https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/blob/master/manifest-reference.md        ', &

./src/fpm/cmd/new.f90
136:        &'  #     https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/blob/master/manifest-reference.md   ',&
138:        &'  #     https://github.com/fortran-lang/fpm/blob/master/PACKAGING.md            ',&
350:        &'  # like. By default the latest master master branch is used. You can           ',&
357:        &'#stdlib = {git="https://github.com/LKedward/stdlib-fpm.git",branch = "master" },',&

./manifest-reference.md
406:toml-f = { git = "https://github.com/toml-f/toml-f", branch = "master" }

• other @fortran-lang projects might also reference files in the fpm repo

[awvwgk]

I'm all for migrating the default branch name, but I don't think it makes much sense unless it happens for all @fortran-lang repositories.

[milancurcic]

I'm all for migrating the default branch name, but I don't think it makes much sense unless it happens for all @fortran-lang repositories.

We should do it for all repos but it doesn't need to happen all at once.

For the transition, instead of renaming "master" -> "main" in the settings, do you think this flow would work:

1. Create a branch "main" from "master"
2. Do necessary PRs for docs and CI to work with "main"
3. Change default branch in settings from "master" to "main"
4. Delete "master" branch.

[rouson]

@milancurcic the workflow you outlined is what I've done on other repositories where I've made this change.

[awvwgk]

For the transition, instead of renaming "master" -> "main" in the settings, do you think this flow would work:

1. Create a branch "main" from "master"
2. Do necessary PRs for docs and CI to work with "main"
3. Change default branch in settings from "master" to "main"
4. Delete "master" branch.

It seems that GitHub is offering a somewhat more seamless way of renaming branches, which will automatically create a redirect from "master" to the new branch name. This only leaves step 2 as a follow-up to the renaming, everything else will be automatic.

I'm happy to start with doing the necessary changes for fpm and we can evaluate how this strategy works out in practice before taking on the other repositories.

[jvdp1]

fine for me!

[milancurcic]

@awvwgk Wonderful, I didn't know about it. Sounds like the way to go.