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Default Branch Name

Status

Accepted

Context

In recent years usage of the word master has become somewhat controversial as noted by SFC and consequently default branch name of Git repos has become main, both in Git itself according to SFC and in Git hosting solutions such as GitHub documentation.

Decision

RDFLib’s default branch will be renamed from master to main. This is primarily to stay in line with modern conventions and to adhere to the principle of least surprise.

Consequences

Anticipated negative consequences:

  • Some links to old code will be broken.
  • Some people’s workflow may break unexpectedly and need adjusting.
  • Any code and systems reliant on the old default branch name will fail.

Anticipated positive consequences:

  • It will become a bit easier to work with RDFLib for developers that are used to main as the default branch.

References