Best Practices for renaming `master` to `main` in pipelines

This guide shows you how to change your pipeline default branch from master to main.

Prerequisites

  • Admin privileges for the GitHub repository where the change is taking place
  • nf-core tools
Warning

Ensure that your version of nf-core/tools matches the pipeline’s template version by checking the .nf-core.yml file. This prevents introducing unrelated changes and keeps the update limited to switching the default branch from master to main.

Instructions

  1. Open your repository on GitHub. Make sure you’re viewing the master branch.
  2. Select Branches. It’s located to the right of the branch dropdown that shows master.

Branches button

  1. In the Default branch section, find the master branch and select the More options (three-dot) menu, then select Rename branch.
Note

You will need permissions to change this setting. If you don’t have permission, ask the @core-team for help on Slack.

Rename branch button

  1. Rename master to main.
  2. Select the learn more, then copy the displayed instructions and save them somewhere safe.
Note

These instructions will be useful for all pipeline contributors, so keep this to one side until the end of this tutorial!

Learn more button

  1. Select Rename branch.
  2. Select the Code tab and verify you are now on main.
  3. In your local IDE (e.g., VS Code), ensure you are on the dev branch.
  4. Run git fetch upstream to ensure you have the main branch locally.
  5. Run git config --global init.defaultBranch main to change your git config to main.
  6. Run git config --global init.defaultBranch to check your git config again, it should now report main.
  7. While still on dev, run nf-core pipelines sync.
  8. Run git switch -c default-branch-change to switch to a new branch.
  9. Run git merge TEMPLATE.
Note

If you don’t want any other template changes, make sure to use the nf-core/tools version that matches the template version in your pipeline.

  1. Resolve merge conflicts.
Tip

If it’s the ROcrate JSON file, you can accept all incoming change.

  1. Run a global repository search in your IDE to check that references of your pipelines master are now main.
Warning

Make sure not to modify references of master in links to other repositories! If in doubt, ask on the nf-core Slack!

  1. Run nf-core pipelines lint to check you didn’t break anything.
  2. Run git add -am 'Change default branch' to commit and merge.
  3. Run git push to push changes.
  4. On GitHub, make a new PR against dev.
  5. Review the PR to check all relevant links and the nextflow.config manifest say main.
  6. Request a community review on #request-review on Slack, and once you have an approval…
  7. … merge! 🎉

Post-change instructions

  1. Inform all your collaborators (on Slack, etc.) that the default branch has changed, and that they should update their clones and forks, i.e.:

    git branch -m master main
git fetch origin
git branch -u origin/main main
git remote set-head origin -a

  2. Update your own clones and forks using the above commands.
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