---
title: Git 3.0 will use main as the default branch
teaser: A quiet but important milestone for Git.
tags: development,git,news
author: Justin Toniazzo
published_on: 2025-11-24
---

Starting with Git 3.0, developers will no longer have to configure the default branch for new repositories.

Git 2.52, released this week, includes this small but meaningful line in the [patch notes](https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/xmqqh5usmvsd.fsf@gitster.g/):

> Declare that "git init" that is not otherwise configured uses 'main' as the initial branch, not 'master', starting Git 3.0.

This change has been a long time coming. The Software Freedom Conservancy—the nonprofit home of the Git project—said in June 23, 2020 that [Git would eventually update its default branch name.](https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jun/23/gitbranchname/) GitHub followed soon after, [changing its default branch](https://github.com/github/renaming) for new repositories to `main` on October 1, 2020.

Git 3.0 has no planned release date as of now, but [current estimates](https://www.phoronix.com/news/Git-3.0-Release-Talk-2026) put it near the end of 2026.

Other [notable changes](https://git-scm.com/docs/BreakingChanges.html) planned for 3.0 include:

* Changing the default hash function from SHA-1 to SHA-256, improving security.
* Changing the default storage format to better support macOS and Windows, and to improve performance.
* More formally integrating Rust into Git’s own build process