Change Default branch in gitlab

Question

I accidentally pushed my local master to a branch called origin on gitlab and now it is the default. Is there a way to rename this branch or set a new master branch to master?

Answer 1

Updated:

Prerequisites:

• You have the Owner or Maintainer role in the project.

To update the default branch for an individual project:

1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to find your project.
2. Select Settings > Repository.
3. Expand Branch defaults. For Default branch, select a new default branch.
4. Optional. Select the Auto-close referenced issues on default branch checkbox to close issues when a merge request uses a closing pattern.
5. Select Save changes.

To change a default branch name for an instance or group:

1. On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select Admin Area.
2. Select Settings > Repository.
3. Expand Default branch.
4. For Initial default branch name, select a new default branch.
5. Select Save changes.

Answer 2

To change default branch in GitLab:
1. Settings > General > General project settings > Expand
2. Default Branch > Change your project default branch
3. Save changes

Answer 3

In 8.0+ it looks like this was moved into the project. If you open your project and go to the gear icon on the right, then "Edit Project" you can set the default branch for the project.

Answer 4

For gitlab v10+ (as of Sept 2018), this has moved to settings-> repository -> default branch

As stated by @Luke this is still valid as on 4/1/2021

Answer 5

To change the default branch in Gitlab 7.7.2:

• Click Settings in the left-hand bar
• Change the Default Branch to the desired branch
• Click Save Changes.

Answer 6

In Gitlab version v11.4.4-ee, you can:

1. Setting
2. Repository
3. Default Branch

Answer 7

1. Settings
2. General
3. General Project Settings

Answer 8

In the latest GitLab Community Edition version 9.2.2.:

1. You have to click on 'Settings' tab located at right most on tabs panel after opening the project.
2. Under 'Settings' you will get section 'Default Branch' dropdown which will give you all branches for the repository. Select the desired branch.
3. Scroll down to hit green colored 'Save changes' button located just after 'Project Avatar'.

Please refer image below:

Answer 9

See also GitLab 13.6 (November 2020)

Customize the initial branch name for new projects within a group

When creating a new Git repository, the first branch created is named master by default.

In coordination with the Git project, broader community, and other Git vendors, GitLab has been listening to the development community’s feedback on determining a more descriptive and inclusive name for the default branch, and is now offering users options to change the name of the default branch name for their repositories.

Previously, we shipped the ability to customize the initial branch name at the instance-level and as part of 13.6, GitLab now allows group administrators to configure the default branch name for new repositories created through the GitLab interface.

See Documentation and Issue.

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GitLab 13.9 (Feb 2021) details:

Git default branch name change

Every Git repository has an initial branch. It’s the first branch to be created automatically when you create a new repository.
By default, this initial branch is named master.

Git version 2.31.0 (scheduled for release March 15, 2021) will change the default branch name in Git from master to main.

In coordination with the Git project and the broader community, GitLab will be changing the default branch name for new projects on both our SaaS (GitLab.com) and self-managed offerings starting with GitLab 14.0.
This will not affect existing projects.

For more information, see the related epic and the Git mailing list discussion.

Deprecation date: Apr 22, 2021

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As promise, with GitLab 13.11 (Apr. 2021):

Git default branch name change

Every Git repository has an initial branch.
It’s the first branch to be created automatically when you create a new repository.

By default, this initial branch is named master.
Future Git versions will change the default branch name in Git from master to main.

In coordination with the Git project and the broader community, GitLab will be changing the default branch name for new projects on both our SaaS (GitLab.com) and self-managed offerings starting with GitLab 14.0.
This will not affect existing projects.

GitLab has already introduced changes that allow users to change the default branch name both at the instance-level (for self-managed users) and at the group-level (for both SaaS and self-managed users).
We encourage users to make use of these features to set default branch names on new projects.

For more information, see the related epic and related blog post.

Answer 10

Settings > Repository > Default Branch

Answer 11

December, 2022

settings >> repository >> Branch defaults :: expand and set your desire branch.

Answer 12

First I needed to remote into my server with ssh. If someone has a non ssh way of doing this please post.

I found my bare repositories at

cd /var/opt/gitlab/git-data/repositories/group-name/project-name.git

used

git branch 

to see the wrong active branch

git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/master

to change the master to to be the branch called master then use the web interface and "git branch" to confirm.

Answer 13

In Gitlab CE 9.0, You can change the default branch from the Settings Tab in a repository's header.

Answer 14

For GitLab 11.5.0-ee, go to https://gitlab.com/<username>/<project name>/settings/repository.

You should see:

Default Branch

Select the branch you want to set as the default for this project. All merge requests and commits will automatically be made against this branch unless you specify a different one.

Click Expand, select a branch, and click Save Changes.