Dist Git Branch Redux

Recently the branch naming scheme of Fedora / EPEL packages has changed. Details about the change can be found on the Dist_Git_Branch_Proposal page. This landing page exists to provide users with information they need regarding the change.

What Changed?

Branch names of package repositories in the Fedora Project's git server.

How have they changed?

This change has removed the /master suffix from our "top level" branches. For example, the top level f15/master has become just f15.

Topic Branches

Repositories with branches that built upon the legacy top-level branch names, such as f15/rebase, were also renamed by replacing every / character with a - character, resulting in branch names such as f15-rebase.

Due to the way git stores branch metadata, it is no longer possible to create topic branches that begin with the name of an existing branch followed by a / character, such as f15/rebase. To work around this, replace the / character with another character.

What do I need to do?

An updated fedpkg has been produced that will help you make use of the new branch names. First make sure you have the newest version of fedora-packager installed. After the conversion, fedpkg will detect local clones that make use of the old naming style and stop you from attempting to use them. It will direct you to use the fedpkg-fixbranches.py (or /usr/libexec/fedpkg-fixbranches) script to update your clone for the new naming scheme.

This script will prune local data about your repo, fetch new data, rename local branches, and update repo configuration for branch tracking. Once it finishes you will be able to work normally.

Who do I talk to if I need help?

Fedora systems administrators can assist you via #fedora-admin should you run into any trouble.