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Hi all, Just FYI for those with GitHub Pages sites, I ran into a stumbling block renaming default branches. Support was helpful and gave me this information (that I couldn't find elsewhere): > For now, you can publish a GitHub Pages project site (i.e. one NOT named <username>.github.io) from the master branch, the /docs folder on the master branch, or the gh-pages branch. In your case if you simply rename the branch from ghpages to gh-pages then you will be able to select it as the publishing source for your repository. For the conference website, I deleted master and then spent a while trying to figure out how to build pages off of a different branch, which wasn't possible until I created a gh-pages branch. Best, Eric On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 5:10 AM Demian Katz <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Thanks for the update, Tammy! > > Can you clarify whether there is an existing mechanism, or future plans, > for redirecting from one branch name to another? > > My use case is this: I am interested in making the branch name change, but > my project has close to a decade of legacy in terms of links to specific > code files in GitHub (in wiki pages, ticket comments, listserv messages, > etc.). Many of these links include the branch name "master," and cleaning > them all up is probably impossible (I can't change history in listserv > archives, for example, but those old messages still contain valid/useful > information that people actively rely on). Even those links that are within > my control are distributed across multiple systems and could take a long > time to comprehensively track down and fix, so having a transition plan > would be really helpful. > > I'd love to be able to move away from master going forward, but to have > pre-existing master links seamlessly redirect to a new branch name instead > of just 404ing. Otherwise, I'm caught in the uncomfortable situation of > weighing the costs and benefits of keeping the name (and alienating people > through potentially offensive terminology) vs. changing the name (and > potentially alienating people through the frustration of broken links when > they are looking for solutions). > > Iām hoping that this situation is being accounted for in your planning, > but I also recognize that it might not be trivially easy to support. I'd > love to hear that there's already a solution for this use case, though; > that would make my week. š > > In any case, thanks for your support! > > - Demian > > -----Original Message----- > From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Tammy Metz > Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2020 2:38 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [CODE4LIB] Anti-racist terminology changes: update > "master" to "main" branch > > Hi! I recently left the library world and started working at GitHub, and > I just wanted to clarify that while this is being worked on, the switch has > not yet been pulled! Our engineers are working hard to make they are > dotting their "i"s and crossing their "T"s so nothing unexpected happens > when this change is rolled out. I believe this will happen in about > another month. > > Here is the "official" statement we have right now: > > --- > We are actively working alongside the Git project itself, as well as > other version control vendors, on making three changes in GitHub: > (1) we are changing the default branch name for new repos away from > 'master' > (2) we are making it easy for users to choose their own default branch > name for all new repos created > (3) we are releasing guidance and tools for users who may choose to > rename their default branch in existing repos. > --- > > There have been many organizations that have gone ahead and successfully > made this change to their existing repositories already, but I just want to > be clear that this change hasn't happened yet on GitHub's end. > > Tammy Metz, MLIS > Developer Support Engineer > GitHub > > > > ---------------------------------------- > From: "Caffrey-Hill, Julia" <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2020 11:05 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [CODE4LIB] Anti-racist terminology changes: update "master" to > "main" branch > Hi Code4Lib Community, > GitHub recently announced changes to its default branch name, from > "master" to "main". This CNET article by Shelby Brown< > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnet.com%2Fnews%2Fmicrosofts-github-is-removing-coding-terms-like-master-and-slave%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cdemian.katz%40VILLANOVA.EDU%7Cba3cba051ebb402bafd908d81936db8f%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C1%7C637287070692755763&sdata=MRMVWY8OGFyYMROsT2b2MWNWnsNEjqOJre1QrHQmVNk%3D&reserved=0> > covered these and other anti-racist terminology changes occurring in the > larger dev community as proposed by Una Kravets, Google Chrome developer. > > GitHub will not update existing repositories. For this reason, I suggest > the following updates: > > * Update the name of the default branch of your code repositories' and > your organizations' repositories from "master" to "main". It is easy to > rename the default branch. I recommend these instructions written by Alexis > Moody< > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdev.to%2Fafrodevgirl%2Freplacing-master-with-main-in-github-2fjf&data=02%7C01%7Cdemian.katz%40VILLANOVA.EDU%7Cba3cba051ebb402bafd908d81936db8f%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C1%7C637287070692755763&sdata=%2FiLMMSo1IODNhoylr5ubBV4Ukr87y2yraM%2B59t1m158%3D&reserved=0>. > I followed these for my personal repositories, adding a git status, git > pull beforehand, and it was very straightforward. For group or organization > repositories, you may want to coordinate timing with other maintainers. > > * Update your documentation. If your documentation contains references to > the "master" branch, these should be updated. > > Your support in moving to terminology without historical baggage or racist > symbolism would benefit present and future developers who fork or update > code. It's also shorter! While this small update is not exhaustive of what > we can do to be a more inclusive community, it would bring us into > alignment with a decision made by GitHub, a platform Code4Lib uses that has > taken a stand against racism. > > Please contact me if you want a video tutorial demonstrating to do this, > or if you would like me to add it as an issue in a Code4Lib community > repository. > > Thanks, > Julia Caffrey-Hill > Web Services Librarian > Towson University > Twitter: @jcaffreyhill > >