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GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

zdnet.com

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Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#61

Post by anjc »

gregoriol wrote: post #50
anjc wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it make more sense? Blacklist is used also as a verb, and I don't think "denylist" could be used as such. You could say "add to the denylist" but I don't think this is sensible.

Why wouldn't "to denylist" be as good as "to blacklist"? It's only because we are used to the second one that the first one seems strange, but after some time it will seem as normal to use it

It seems awkward to have a verb as part of the noun, but as I write this I'm thinking of many.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#62

Post by eplanit »

anjc wrote: post #45

I don't understand the racist connotations given that there are no "slave" branches. Every similar mention of "master" can't change. What words can better describe a master boot record, for example?

I guess remastering audio recordings and movies is out now, too.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#63

Post by CodeWriter23 »

Well this seems like a satisfactory solution to police disproportionately killing black men. Yes, sarcasm. I actually think efforts like this distract from the core problem, of, certain cops practicing racial bias when escalating to lethal force.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#64

Post by dingle3 »

elcomet wrote: post #52
dingle3 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's the racist background?

Whitelist = allowed list (because white people were allowed in all places). Blacklist = deny list (because black people were denied in many places).

anything to back this up? my searches mostly come up with either greeks physically using black ballots to vote to excommunicate people, or putting names in a black book in 1600s, which was usually reserved for enemies and most likely was not racially motivated.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#65

Post by olivierva »

TrowthePlow wrote: post #10
zabdmyP wrote: post #5

How many of these activists own a MasterCard? How many black people own one? Ironically, outside the US the "Black edition MasterCard" is the top offer (named so, because ( surprise ) the card is black).

Isn't the American Express "Black" card the top of the heap too?

Although the color of the card is black the official name is Centurion

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#67

Post by cs02rm0 »

sand_castles wrote: post #24

Wait, git by default creates master branch. So if you push master to Github, how is this going to work ? Is it not better to make the changes to Git ? Ask Linus Torvald in Finland.

That'd be a horrendous breaking change.

I'm assuming github are just going to alias it in the UI. I'd hate to have used both a master and a main branch before this.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#68

Post by mLAPa »

sand_castles wrote: post #24

Wait, git by default creates master branch. So if you push master to Github, how is this going to work ? Is it not better to make the changes to Git ? Ask Linus Torvald in Finland.

If you push to master, you'll be put on a Microsoft blacklist. Oh, wait.

This is Microsoft again trying to disrupt the OSS community even further.

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#69

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

lallysingh wrote: post #12
mirthflat83 wrote: post #3

> but also terms like "blacklist" and "whitelist" for "allow list" and "deny/exclude list." Seriously?

Without the racist background, how does one know which list does which? The new names actually describe what they do. The reason it may seem ridiculous is that racism is very, very deep in American culture. The country's culture goes back hundreds of years and is still slowly working on being less so. Here's an example: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342...

> Without the racist background, how does one know which list does which?

By basic knowledge of the English language. Terms like "black market", "black death", "black tuesday", etc. etc. By the expressions like "looking at things in black and white". It is a part of language, it has nothing to do with race. These colors are used in the same way in other languages of other countries that don't even have racial slavery history.

What is your example supposed to prove? That there were in fact some racist songs? How does that make the whole American culture "racist"? If there is a song saying something bad about males in general, does that make the whole culture of that whole country anti-male for some reason?

Re: GitHub to replace “master” with alternative term to avoid slavery references

#70

Post by buzzy_hacker »

elcomet wrote: post #52
dingle3 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's the racist background?

Whitelist = allowed list (because white people were allowed in all places). Blacklist = deny list (because black people were denied in many places).

Genuinely curious, do we have sources for the words used in a specifically racial context?
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