Change git init's default branch name

HOWTO.md

Change the name of the default branch created by git init

Suppose you want the default branch name created by git init (or tools that shell out to it, like cargo new) to be something other than master. In this example, I'll call it develop.

1. Add the following to your .gitconfig:

   [init]
       templateDir = ~/.config/git/template/
   

   This tells git init to use the files found in ~/.config/git/template to populate the initial .git directory. You can use whatever path you'd like.

2. Create a file in the template directory called HEAD, for example ~/.config/git/template/HEAD, with the following contents:

   ref: refs/heads/develop
   

   Replace develop with the default name of your choice.

very neat - thank you 👍