git +edit default branch is set to "refs/heads/master" even if this branch doesn't exist

[Iain Lane]

I just pushed a branch called "growroot-udevadm-trigger" to lp:~laney/+git/cloud-initramfs-tools. I then wanted to move this repository to my fork of the upstream cloud-initramfs-tools project in Launchpad.

I visted https://code.launchpad.net/%7Elaney/+git/cloud-initramfs-tools/+edit to do this, and changed the radio to specify this project. After submitting the form I was returned to the same +edit page with "There is 1 error." and this error was "This repository does not contain a reference named 'refs/heads/master'."

Changing this to refs/heads/growroot-udevadm-trigger let me submit the form, but I think Launchpad could have worked this out on its own. Something like: if there's no "master" (or main or whatever if there's a future renaming of this default) branch then pick another one.

In the case like mine where there's only one branch pushed this will be the right one, otherwise I can see that it's difficult to divine what the user would want here.