Better more targeted fix

Author: JakeGinnivan

src/GitVersionCore/BranchConfigurationCalculator.cs

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ namespace GitVersion
 
     public class BranchConfigurationCalculator
     {
+        public static string FallbackConfigName = "Fallback";
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets the <see cref="BranchConfig"/> for the current commit.
         /// </summary>
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ public static BranchConfig GetBranchConfiguration(GitVersionContext context, Bra
                     "No branch configuration found for branch {0}, falling back to default configuration",
                     targetBranch.FriendlyName));
 
-                matchingBranches = new BranchConfig { Name = string.Empty };
+                matchingBranches = new BranchConfig { Name = FallbackConfigName };
                 ConfigurationProvider.ApplyBranchDefaults(context.FullConfiguration, matchingBranches, "", new List<string>());
             }
 
@@ -135,9 +137,15 @@ static BranchConfig InheritBranchConfiguration(GitVersionContext context, Branch
                 }
 
                 var inheritingBranchConfig = GetBranchConfiguration(context, chosenBranch, excludedInheritBranches);
+                var configIncrement = inheritingBranchConfig.Increment;
+                if (inheritingBranchConfig.Name == FallbackConfigName && configIncrement == IncrementStrategy.Inherit)
+                {
+                    Logger.WriteWarning("Fallback config inherits by default, dropping to patch increment");
+                    configIncrement = IncrementStrategy.Patch;
+                }
                 return new BranchConfig(branchConfiguration)
                 {
-                    Increment = inheritingBranchConfig.Increment,
+                    Increment = configIncrement,
                     PreventIncrementOfMergedBranchVersion = inheritingBranchConfig.PreventIncrementOfMergedBranchVersion,
                     // If we are inheriting from develop then we should behave like develop
                     TracksReleaseBranches = inheritingBranchConfig.TracksReleaseBranches

src/GitVersionCore/Configuration/ConfigurationProvider.cs

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public class ConfigurationProvider
         public const string SupportBranchKey = "support";
         public const string DevelopBranchKey = "develop";
 
-        private const IncrementStrategy DefaultIncrementStrategy = IncrementStrategy.Patch;
+        private const IncrementStrategy DefaultIncrementStrategy = IncrementStrategy.Inherit;
 
         public static Config Provide(GitPreparer gitPreparer, IFileSystem fileSystem, bool applyDefaults = true, Config overrideConfig = null)
         {