Gitea - set default branch to "Main" instead of "Master"

kjodle

There is a setting in Gitea (as described here) to set the default branch name of new repositories. However, I cannot get it to work.

The default branch is "Master".

I added the following to my custom/conf/app.ini file:

DEFAULT_BRANCH = main

under the [repository] section of that file.

I then restart my Gitea install (./stop followed by ./start — output messages are good). However, when I create a new repository, the default branch is still "Master". I have tried numerous iterations of this (double quotes around "main", single quotes, no quotes, etc.—I believe no quotes is correct) without any luck.

In fact, the only settings that I seem able to change are APP_NAME, RUN_MODE, ROOT, and DEFAULT_PRIVATE.

Any advice on what to try next?

sean

I just tried that on a fresh Gitea install and had no problems, setting DEFAULT_BRANCH worked as expected.

It looks like that setting was introduced about 13 months ago so if your install is older than that then you'll need to update Gitea.

You can update Gitea by replacing the gitea binary in your app directory with the latest binary, eg:

# make a backup first :)
cd ~/apps/appname
wget https://dl.gitea.io/gitea/1.14.5/gitea-1.14.5-linux-amd64
./stop
chmod +x gitea-1.14.5-linux-amd64
mv gitea gitea.old
ln -s gitea-1.14.5-linux-amd64 gitea
./start

kjodle

check notes

Yep, it looks like I missed that by about 3 or 4 months. (Note to self: check version numbers next time!)

Thanks, Sean. That worked like a charm. And you also anticipated my next question, which was "How do I update Gitea?" I had the entire thing backed up, updated, and tested in about five minutes!

Thanks again! If you guys ever offer merch, I will definitely buy a bunch.