The method now is simply to run OPL-update. There is no need to checkout the main branch or do a git pull. When OPL-update runs, it runs the script downoad-OPL-metadata-release.pl. That script downloads the latest OPL metadata release directly from GitHub, and is independent of the status of your local OPL clone. Then it runs "git fetch" on the local clone. For that it doesn't matter what branch is checked out, and it updates all references to the remote without changing anything in any locally checked out branches. Then it checks out the tag corresponding to the downloaded OPL metadata release as a new branch.
WeBWorK Main Forum
OPL-Update in WW 2.17
This forum has a limit to the number of forum postings you can make in a given time period - this is currently set at 10 posting(s) in 1 day