I wish Posit would take the trouble to do some actual user experience testing with users who use git and github. Continually encounter serious blockers as a result of poor integration. Latest problem:
- Why is Posit Cloud using the ancient git version 2.25? This enforces the colonialist naming of the default branch as 'master' instead of what everybody now uses, which is 'main'. I have been using git and github for many years, but trying to boost my advanced skills with it by combining using the O'Reilly Learning Git with other resources, and cannot even follow steps in chapter 2 because PositCloud git version is so old.
- Trying to authenticate, still seeing the Posit GUI features for using github lead me along a path that ends up with the system prompting me for a github username and then github password, and then the inevitable error saying password authentication became obsolete in 2021. If Posit would do a little software testing and user experience testing these kind of majorly frustrating issues should be a thing of the past. Hire some software testers!
Hi @PaulineDataWard,
I'm sorry you are having issues with Posit Cloud. We are using git version 2.25.1 because that is what comes on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa). We should be updating quite soon to Ubunutu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) which comes with git version 2.43.0.
In git version 2.28.0 there is a new option for git init called --initial-branch=<branch-name> to change the default branch name. The docs for that option state:
Use <branch-name> for the initial branch in the newly created repository. If not specified, fall back to the default name (currently master, but this is subject to change in the future; the name can be customized via the init.defaultBranch configuration variable).
Once we have updated Ubuntu and have the newer git version, you will be able to use that option and we can also try to take a look at setting init.defaultBranch to main for all users. In the meantime, if you would like to change the name of your existing branch from master to main you can do the following:
git branch --move master main
git push --set-upstream origin main
git push origin --delete master
In regards to your issues with GitHub authentication, please see the Working with GitHub section in the Posit Cloud guide which talks about using a personal access token since GitHub no longer supports password authentication. Other git providers may still allow username and password authentication, so that option must still be available for them.