Since Github started using the name of it’s main branch as main, when you create a new repository with git init, it is misaligned with this new standard. Your repository is created with the main branch name Master.
The following example shows the commands suggested by Github to push files in the new repository, from a repository already existing in yours machine:
git remote add origin [email protected]:nunomazer/my-new-repo.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main
However, it is common an error message similar to the following to be shown after the git branch -M main command:
error: refname refs/heads/master not found
fatal: Branch rename failed
Solving the error “refname refs/heads/master not found”
In general this problem is presented because a branch is a pointer that points to a particular commit. Yes, simple as that, you have not yet made any commit in this new repository, so your main branch (called master) does not point to any place, so it virtually does not exist and cannot be renamed.
To solve, follow the usual steps of first commit:
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
And then run the command to rename the branch:
git branch -M main
Grate, it’s solved, you can now push your source files to Github using the expected way for the main branch.
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