Improve platform support of help text by breaking `git init` into two commands
Problem to solve
The command line instructions for pushing an existing repo do not work by default on the latest LTS of Ubuntu. Currently the instructions are:
cd existing_folder
git init --initial-branch=main
git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:path/to/project.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin main
As of 2021-12-14 the latest version of git available for ubuntu without needing to mess with package repositories is git version 2.25.1
which does not yet support the --initial-branch
option.
> git init --initial-branch=main
error: unknown option `initial-branch=main'
Ubuntu is a common linux distribution picked up by novices aspiring to become professionals in software and supporting them in that pursuit seems like a good thing.
This is pretty much a non-obnoxious version of #337936 (closed) and I'm hoping the proposed solution may be more workable.
Proposal
Break the git init --initial-branch=main
out into two commands until the versions of git
supporting --initial-branch
are more widely distributed.
cd existing_folder
git init
git checkout -b main
git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:path/to/project.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin main
This appears to accomplish the same goal (It doesn't look like there is a vestigial master
branch) while also having broader support across platforms.
Intended users
The git novice that is likely to lean heavily on the provided help text while they are learning.