Re: Rename "master" branch to "main" for glibc 2.35 release.

[Adhemerval Zanella <adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org>]

On 29/01/2022 19:32, Carlos O'Donell via Libc-alpha wrote:
> In June 2020 I started this thread for glibc 2.32:
> https://sourceware.org/pipermail/libc-alpha/2020-June/115579.html
> to discuss a branch name change.
> 
> Thanks to Paul, Florian, Joseph and DJ who provided feedback on
> the initial discussion.
> 
> As of today the default Gitlab new branch is "main" (Gitlab 14 or later).
> 
> As of today the default Github new branch is "main".
> 
> With Git 2.28+ the default branch name is configurable.
> 
> Git has added this advisory text:
> ~~~
>  562 static const char default_branch_name_advice[] = N_(
>  563 "Using '%s' as the name for the initial branch. This default branch name\n"
>  564 "is subject to change. To configure the initial branch name to use in all\n"
>  565 "of your new repositories, which will suppress this warning, call:\n"
>  566 "\n"
>  567 "\tgit config --global init.defaultBranch <name>\n"
>  568 "\n"
>  569 "Names commonly chosen instead of 'master' are 'main', 'trunk' and\n"
>  570 "'development'. The just-created branch can be renamed via this command:\n"
>  571 "\n"
>  572 "\tgit branch -m <name>\n"
> ~~~
> 
> My proposal is to rename the development and release branches at the point
> that glibc 2.35 branches:
> 
> * master -> main
> 
> * release/2.35/master -> release/2.35/main
> 
> No alias would be provided for the master branch; we would immediately
> start using 'main' as the development branch.
> 
> I am looking for consensus on this proposal.
> 
> Details:
> ========
> 
> Given the feedback from the last proposal I have done the required
> review to ensure the transition can happen smoothly within our own
> infrastructure.
> 
> This proposal is only about the development branch and upcoming release
> branch. All historical branches remain at their existing names.
> 
> I have reviewed the git hooks, and we would need to make changes to the
> following files after the transition:
> * hooks-bin/email-to-bugzilla-filtered
> * hooks-bin/post-receive
> 
> Our hooks implementation (AdaCore's hooks) is neutral on the branch name
> used. There are two instances where 'master' is removed for '' to
> shorten an email message because it's the "default", but that should not
> be a blocker for our transition.
> 
> There are changes required to our project.config in refs/meta/config:
> * reject-merge-commits for 'main' needs to be set.
> * allow-non-fast-forward must be adjusted for 'main'.
> 
> Wiki pages that need changing immediately:
> * https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/GlibcGit
> 
> How to update a renamed upstream branch:
> # Rename old branch to new branch.
> $ git branch -m OLD-BRANCH-NAME NEW-BRANCH-NAME
> # Fetch upstream origin to get new branch name.
> $ git fetch origin
> # Set upstream to thew new renamed branch.
> $ git branch -u origin/NEW-BRANCH-NAME NEW-BRANCH-NAME
> # Set the default branch for origin automatically
> $ git remote set-head origin -a
> # Prune the old references away.
> $ git remote prune origin
> 
> Website needs updating immediately:
> * https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/sources.html
> * https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/started.html
> 
> All other wiki, web, and source references can be adjusted over time.
> 

I must say that I am failing to see any technical advantage or improvement
of doing this change.