Blog: Switching from master to main

_posts/2026-03-20-master-to-main.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Group Project: Switching from `master` to `main`
+date: 2026-03-20
+github_username: rwaffen
+---
+
+Hi @everyone 👋, we have a large number of repositories, and we want to establish a clear and consistent standard for how we name our default branches across the organization.
+
+The reason for this change is to align with current defaults on GitHub, upcoming changes to Git itself, as well as standardizing language, improving clarity, and reducing confusion of having different repositories with different defaults.
+
+Since this change can involve a fair amount of work, we’d like to approach it collaboratively and involve everyone in the process.
+
+If you touch any repository and got some extra time to spend, please switch the default branch to `main` and update your local clones accordingly.
+
+<!-- TODO: Can everyone do this or do we need some special rights to do this? -->
+If you are a repository maintainer you can switch the default branch in the repository settings on GitHub.
+See the GitHub documaentation to this: <https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/configuring-branches-and-merges-in-your-repository/managing-branches-in-your-repository/renaming-a-branch>
+
+The commands to update your local clone are as follows:
+
+```shell
+git branch -m master main
+git fetch origin
+git branch -u origin/main main
+git remote set-head origin -a
+```
+
+Thx for your help! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
+
+Cheers,
+@rwaffen