Drupal Core Adopts ‘Main’ Branch as Default for Future Development

Announced by Gábor Hojtsy, this transition finalises a series of infrastructure updates initiated in 2023. Going forward, the main branch will serve as the default development trunk for Drupal core. All major work, especially towards Drupal 12, should now be targeted at the main branch.

The previously used 11.x branch will remain in place strictly for Drupal 11-specific issues and backports. This move is designed to reduce friction for contributors and clarify where development efforts should be directed.

Simplified Contribution and Issue Management

By adopting a persistent main branch, Drupal eliminates the recurring cycle of version-specific development branches. This previously required large-scale updates to issue version numbers and merge request targets with every major release. Now, contributors no longer need to track the current development version number to know where to submit work.

Issue versioning on Drupal.org will also benefit from the change. An automated process will update the current 11.x issues to target main in the coming days. Contributors are not required to make bulk updates manually, although doing so on individual issues is acceptable.

What Contributors Should Do

• Target merge requests to main: Unless an issue is specifically for Drupal 11 or older, all new core contributions should be directed to main.

• Update local repositories: Developers with local clones of Drupal core are encouraged to track the new branch using:

  git fetch origin
  git branch --track main origin/main

• Watch for automatic MR updates: Most existing merge requests will be retargeted automatically this week. However, contributors may need to manually rebase or attach the main branch to their issue forks in some cases.
• Continue contributing as usual: No other significant process changes are required. Contributions that apply cleanly to main will be accepted even if the main branch is not yet present in the MR.

This update is expected to improve overall efficiency, reduce maintenance overhead, and make it easier for new contributors to navigate Drupal core development. It also brings Drupal into alignment with the practices of other major open-source projects, further supporting its growth and modernisation.

“Using a main branch aligns Drupal core with the best practices of industry and major open-source projects,” wrote Gábor, adding that the change would reduce contributor confusion and long-standing friction around versioning.