GitHub to replace "master" with alternative term to avoid slavery references

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GitHub is working on replacing the term "master" on its service with a neutral term like "main" to avoid any unnecessary references to slavery, its CEO said on Friday.

The code-hosting portal is just the latest in a long line of tech companies and open source projects that have expressed support for removing terms that may be offensive to developers in the black community.

This includes dropping terms like "master" and "slave" for alternatives like "main/default/primary" and "secondary;" but also terms like "blacklist" and "whitelist" for "allow list" and "deny/exclude list."

The concern is that continued use of these racially-loaded terms could prolong racial stereotypes.

"Such terminology not only reflects racist culture, but also serves to reinforce, legitimize, and perpetuate it," wrote academics in a 2018 journal.

BLM PROTESTS SPURS NEW EFFORTS TO CLEAN OUT SOFTWARE LANGUAGE
Now, spurred by the Black Lives Matter protests across the US, the tech community is engaging again in efforts to remove such language from source code, software applications, and online services.

For starters, the PHPUnit library and the Curl file download utility have stated their intention to replace blacklist/whitelist with neutral alternatives.

Similarly, the OpenZFS file storage manager has also replaced its master/slave terms used for describing relations between storage environments with suitable replacements.

Gabriel Csapo, a software engineer at LinkedIn, said on Twitter this week that he's also in the process of filing requests to update many of Microsoft's internal libraries and remove any racially-charged phrases.

Other projects that don't use racially-charged constructs in their source code or user interfaces directly are now looking at their source code repositories.

Most of these projects manage their source code via the Git software, or the GitHub online portal (which provides Git-based source code hosting).

Both Git and GitHub use the term "master" for the default version of a source code repository. Developers fork a version of the "master" to create secondary versions, add their own code to this default version, and then merge their changes back into the "master."

Now, several open source projects are changing the name of their default Git repo from "master" to alternatives like main, default, primary, root, or another.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/githu...alternative-term-to-avoid-slavery-references/
 
I remember a few years back some woke techies called for the terms master/slave in software to be dropped.

That's right boys: we're now offended by Mongo instances.
 
I think the way that pages are numbered is offensive.

Page 1 implies it is better than Page 2. Meritocracies are offensive and outdated. It should not be possible to rank pages, implying one is better than the other.

Pages should be named after black feminists.

/s
 
Had to clutch my pearls at that... wow, I really did not see this one coming AT ALL... I am truly shook to the core.

Can we change Anaconda to something else, the name has relevance to the other "anaconda", that has been lacking in my life :confused:
 
koeks525 said:
Had to clutch my pearls at that... wow, I really did not see this one coming AT ALL... I am truly shook to the core.

Can we change Anaconda to something else, the name has relevance to the other "anaconda", that has been lacking in my life :confused:
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That means we have to get rid of Python too.

You don't connect to a computers open ports anymore - too rapey.

We have to get rid of binary too. Since, like, gender is now non binary, which means binary is automatically bad. Tool of the patriarchy and all that.

I think instead of binary we should use feelings. Like, how does this boolean make you feel right now? You can change your mind later if you want.
 
Member berries incoming:
I remember, back in the day, learning how to fix PC's and the difference between using a HDD cable in the slave or the master position. It was also documented as such in my A+ exam I eventually took.

COMPTIA made me a racist.
 
Master Slave

Master/slave is a model of asymmetric communication or control where one device or process controls one or more other devices or processes and serves as their communication hub. In some systems a master is selected from a group of eligible devices, with the other devices acting in the role of slaves.

:oops:

Now if you put it like that.....
 
Unbelievable!

Curl file download utility have stated their intention to replace blacklist/whitelist
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This is become ridiculous. Every snowflake is jumping on the bandwagon now.

I guess soon to following will be the proxy servers. Blacklisting no longer allowed.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
 
Ancalagon said:
That means we have to get rid of Python too.

You don't connect to a computers open ports anymore - too rapey.

We have to get rid of binary too. Since, like, gender is now non binary, which means binary is automatically bad. Tool of the patriarchy and all that.

I think instead of binary we should use feelings. Like, how does this boolean make you feel right now? You can change your mind later if you want.
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
Isn't this a massive insult to black programmers or whatever? Surely black people know like everyone else that these words have nothing to do with slavery or racism etc
 
I get that they want to rename master and slave to primary and secondary, but renaming whitelist and blacklist... Somewhere primary and secondary will also become an issue due to the use in social hierarchies, you know, supremacy.

Come to think about this, will The Blacklist series also be renamed? The Deny List, The Exclude List, The Greylist?
 
Hamster said:
I remember a few years back some woke techies called for the terms master/slave in software to be dropped.

That's right boys: we're now offended by Mongo instances.
Click to expand...
They obviously never worked with harddrives :D
 
Fulcrum29 said:
I get that they want to rename master and slave to primary and secondary, but renaming whitelist and blacklist... Somewhere primary and secondary will also become an issue due to the use in social hierarchies, you know, supremacy.

Come to think about this, will The Blacklist series also be renamed? The Deny List, The Exclude List, The Greylist?
Click to expand...

The very idea of excluding anyone is badthink though.

It will have to be the Super Inclusive List of Everyone We Love.
 
I'm going to take the unpopular position and agree with GitHub and the 2018 academics.

A master device that exerts total control over slave devices is clearly a metaphor with racist underpinnings. I don't see why anyone should have a problem with getting rid of those terms. It's hardly the start of the renaming of every innocuous thing on the planet.
 
Bryn said:
I'm going to take the unpopular position and agree with GitHub and the 2018 academics.

A master device that exerts total control over slave devices is clearly a metaphor with racist underpinnings. I don't see why anyone should have a problem with getting rid of those terms. It's hardly the start of the renaming of every innocuous thing on the planet.
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Blacks don't have a monopoly on slavery...
 
Bryn said:
I'm going to take the unpopular position and agree with GitHub and the 2018 academics.

A master device that exerts total control over slave devices is clearly a metaphor with racist underpinnings. I don't see why anyone should have a problem with getting rid of those terms. It's hardly the start of the renaming of every innocuous thing on the planet.
Click to expand...

The problem is, those words exist with clear meanings within a context, it is implied and explicit. Many words are currently today under scrutiny. The word "racism" is now in the proceedings to be amended to be suitably applied within 'modern context', but I am sure more words will be under review.

You can say those words have a racist underpinning, but racist underpinning isn't its implied or explicit use within this context.

To add, context in modern society have been lost a long time ago.

As I have said in the other thread where OpenZFS announced the change, it has been years since I have heard master and slave applied in general terminology.

Say this is abolished, many patents will be under review... patent trolls will be the ever opportunist.
 
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