Re: [PATCH 0/9] Allow overriding the default name of the default branch

[Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>]

Hi Junio,

On Wed, 10 Jun 2020, Junio C Hamano wrote:

> "Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
> writes:
>
> > A growing number of open source projects aims to avoid the branch name
> > master due to its negative connotation. See [1] for an existing discussion
> > on this. The links [2], [3], and [4] describe community-driven ways for
> > users to rename their default branches or use template edits to set a new
> > default branch name.
>
> I scanned the series quickly and the patches seem to cover all the
> places I was aware of that has the hard-coded knowledge of the
> default branch name being 'master'.  Looking good.

Thanks!

> > This series DOES NOT change the default automatically, but only
> > provides an opt-in mechanism for interested users. It also presents a
> > way forward for such a transition, if and when we decide to do so.
> > Specifically, the new GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_BRANCH_NAME environment
> > variable could be used to update test scripts on an individual basis
> > instead of all-at-once.
>
> Yes.  I've been thinking about a way that does not hurt workflows
> used in existing projects while allowing a "git init" that is run to
> create a new repository by a new user who does not have any special
> customization in ~/.gitconfig to use the branch name that replaces
> the 'master' (I do not mind changing away from 'master', but I am
> not yet convinced it should be 'main', by the way---the actual
> choice of the final name does not matter at this point of the design
> of backward compatibility plan).
>
> I think "git init" that is creating a new repository (iow, do not do
> anything when reinitializing an existing repostiory) can
>
>  - look at config.defaultBranchName in /etc/gitconfig or
>    ~/.gitconfig before initializing the per-repository config in
>    $GIT_DIR/config it just created (or it is about to create).
>
>  - if there is no config.defaultBranchName configured, then set the
>    per-repository configuration to 'main' in the per-repository
>    configuration.  Otherwise do not do anything.
>
> And then we make sure Don's git_default_branch_name() works this
> way:
>
>  (0) if there is config.defaultBranchName in relevant config file
>      (i.e. /etc/gitconfig, ~/.gitconfig or per-repo config), use the
>      specified name.
>
>  (1) otherwise use 'master' (not 'main').
>
> That way, an existing repository will keep using 'master' unless the
> user shows the preference (and accepts responsibilities for possible
> fallouts) in ~/.gitconfig or the repository's .git/config, while a
> new repository created by a user who does not show any particular
> preference will use 'main'.

I read this (way too late) last night and slept over it. Together with
your comment on the `fmt-merge-msg` patch, I think you are really on to
something: we need _two_ config settings, as there are two distinct
concepts at play here:

- One setting to specify the default branch name for newly-initialized
  repositories (such as `git init`, unless it re-initializes, and `git
  clone` when the cloned repository does not yet contain any branches).

  This should probably be called `init.defaultBranchName` (even if `git
  clone` picks it up, too), and be overrideable by
  `GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_BRANCH_NAME`.

- And another one, to define the default branch name for the _current_
  repository. This setting would be configured implicitly upon `git init`
  and `git clone`. For repositories where it is not set, we would assume
  `master` for backwards-compatibility.

  Technically, this should probably not even be a config option because it
  is _strictly_ per-repo. But maybe it is not _so_ much per-repo: if I
  want to rename all my main branches in all of my local repositories, I
  might opt to configure this in `~/.gitconfig`.

  Maybe a good name for this would be `repo.mainBranch` (and it would
  contain the full ref name, e.g. `refs/heads/main`, not just `main`).

And then `git fmt-merge-msg` (and your proposed `git var` addition, which
I like a lot, maybe `git var mainBranch`?) will pick up the latter.

That way, existing repositories would not be affected by
`GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_BRANCH_NAME` or `init.defaultBranchName` at all. Only
new repositories would pick it up.

Does that sound like a plan?

Ciao,
Dscho