Upgrade git
The ability to use an alternate name for the primary branch began in git release 2.28. There are several ways to update git. I used Homebrew on a Mac.
$ git --version git version 2.17.2 (Apple Git-113) $ brew install git ... $ git --version git version 2.17.2 (Apple Git-113)
NOTE: The version didn't change even though brew installed the latest version. If this happens, you may need to update the PATH. I did the following to fix the problem.
Edit ~/.bash_profile
Add the following line near bottom of this file...
# required for git installed by Homebrew to be found export PATH="/usr/locl/bin:${PATH}"
and execute the following to activate this change...
$ source ~/.bash_profile $ git --version git version 2.28.0
NOTE: You have to execute the source command in every terminal tab or restart terminal to have it fully take effect.
Configure main as the default repository for all new repos
$ git config --global init.defaultBranch main
This updates ~/.git
file and adds the following lines...
[init] defaultBranch = main
Create repo with new default branch name
$ mkdir myapp $ cd myapp $ git init $ git status