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Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

lore.kernel.org

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Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#101
post #51

This will have broken tens of thousands of beginner programming tutorials. Very unfortunate.

Hopefully many of these tutorials will be updated or replaced by other resources over time.

It would be helpful if git threw a descriptive error when trying to check out 'master' if it doesn't exist, and is not set to the default branch.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#102

If I say "you are the master of your own destiny", is that offensive, because the word "master" is always offensive? I think that "main branch" sounds fine, it makes as much sense as "master branch", but I'm irked that people are always caving to word policing. Like, we're just going to scratch a whole bunch of words from the dictionary because someone somewhere is offended? The other day, people at my workplace were…

Not sure I understand the idea of banning words being taken so far. I always interpreted Git’s usage of ‘master’ to mean the original replica. Like the golden master of a record or CD.

Not only this, but the idea that we should focus our efforts on these utter non-problems (no one has ever been harmed or disenfranchised in any way by the use of this term) as opposed to any of the very real problems our society faces (environment, growing inequality, etc) is itself a real problem. And the people who are meant to be the "victims" of these issues almost never take offense or issue (e.g., Japanese opinions on the little girl's geisha-themed party or Chinese opinions on the traditional-Chinese themed prom dress, or African American opinions on defunding the police, or etc). The people who take offense are very often not even members of these "victim groups", but rather people who believe race is the preeminently useful characteristic of any person and that races have agency and collective guilt/accomplishment and so on (i.e., "racism" in a literal, classical sense).

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#103
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the grand scheme of slippery slopes this change isn't even at an angle.

I fully agree that this specific change is insignificant, but the biggest deep learning conference has been renamed, after something like 20 years, because of this kind of pressure. Word policing has a bit of a 1984 feel to it. Some desire to control you and how you think by controlling which words you use, with new arbitrary words being banned all the time. Instead of actual change, we're focusing on the superficial…

Changing a default isn't banning a word.

The conference was called NIPS. It's slang for nipples and a racial slur. It isn't like everyone was mature about it. There was an unofficial event called TITS. People wore shirts proclaiming "my NIPS are NP hard". Funny but hardly professional.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me like the people actually forcing these superficial changes through shaming and bullying are actually, for the most part, privileged upper middle class white people. That was definitely the case with the NIPS => NeurIPS conference renaming. That whole thing got started by some white dude on twitter.

So, let's apply the process. Suppose Person A says something, and Person B thinks another colleague, Person C, might find offensive. That alone may be enough to offend Person B. They feel Person A may be creating an uncomfortable environment, intentional or not. Person C may not even be actually offended, but other people of Person C's {race,sex,etc} have been offended by similar statements. How people apply judgment…

The problem (IMO) is a growing distrust of Person B, because that guy keeps policing everything and everyone such that he appears to be using Person C's {race,sex,etc} to prop up and brandish his own moral authority in a way that Person C finds to be annoying and perhaps even actually offensive. Person B doesn't even care about the real issues affecting Person C or even the collective as a whole, and every time these issues are talked about Person B interrupts to speak on behalf of Person C or perhaps even accusing Person A (or whomever) of racism/sexism/etc for bringing up these issues which distract from Person B's personal crusade with respect to Person C's identity. By all appearances, Person B isn't acting in good faith, and his behavior in aggregate is causing a lot of problems and certainly isn't advancing his purported goal of "promoting a welcoming environment".

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#105
post #12

The branch name "master" does not have "golden master" or "master copy" roots: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...

That's incorrect. Petr Baudis explained why he picked it: > "master" as in e.g. "master recording". https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441 That's straight from the horse's mouth. The thread you linked to is pure conjecture.

There is also a thread above with source links of him saying "it's not unlikely at all" it was influenced by Bitkeeper and he's "wished many times" he picked main instead.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#106

Looking forward to all the bugs and problems this will cause. At least some over-sensitive ppl (or trolls?) will be happy. One more to add to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_name_changes_due_to_...

They will not be happy. That is not in their nature.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's incorrect. Petr Baudis explained why he picked it: > "master" as in e.g. "master recording". https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441 That's straight from the horse's mouth. The thread you linked to is pure conjecture.

There is also a thread above with source links of him saying "it's not unlikely at all" it was influenced by Bitkeeper and he's "wished many times" he picked main instead.

The answer to the direct question of "What was it [master] meant to convey?" was '"master" as in e.g. "master recording".'

There's no "likeliness" or "influence" in that direct answer. That's pretty straightforward.

The fact that he "wished many times" he picked main instead has no bearing or relevance on why "master" was chosen.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#108
post #30
post #2

Given the motivation for this change -- will the same people be advocating that we must refer to main in HDDs that are in a RAID configuration? Seems a touch over-sensitive in my book. 'main' is a better choice because it's shorter -- it's also a keyword in many C based programming languages that programmers are inherently slow to write/override. They should have been the stated reasons.

In RAID, unlike in git, the word "slave" is also used in conjunction with "master". That seems to inherently raise some negative associations... and it's not like "primary / secondary" aren't easily available substitutes.

You've haven't solved the problem though -- just kicked the can down the road -- somebody could come along explain that their offended by the terms "primary" and "secondary" as it implies one is above the other when they prefer to see equality and no offence caused.

When that happens you'll find yourself in the same position as us now who are saying the term "master" when discussing source control or HDD configuration is appropriate. Perhaps the answer is to understand that not everything is offensive even if interpreted initially that way. Nor does someone who claim to be offended actually have more skin in the game or more to their argument.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#109
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Git is Free software so nothing is stopping people from forking it and excluding these patches if they feel that strongly about it.

>> I would rather see projects and people stand their ground instead of caving to pressure anytime a twitter mob comes along. You didn't respond to this in any way.

How do we know "they caved to pressure" as opposed to "were convinced of the merits of making the change"? Like I said, if enough people don't like this change, they can start their own fork called originalgit or something. It would be fairly easy to backport changes to it. Let the market decide whether the default branch should be called "master" or "main". Or, you could start a twitter campaign about how "main" reminds you of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and all the attendant horrors of that. Worse than the Atlantic slave trade? Maybe! If you can convince enough people that "main" is bad, maybe they'll switch it back.

Re: Update to Git changes the default of init.defaultBranch to main

#110
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if instead of master/slave the terms were master and "n-word". Would there be a reasonable argument to change it at that point? If you say "yes" then you agree there is a line somewhere. If that's the case then we should discuss where the line should be and why it should be there instead of saying "stop [worrying] about being politically correct". If you say "no" then your argument is that no words are too of…

Master/slave has a technical meaning beyond the sense of one person enslaving another. "Nigger" has no use case outside of making horrible and offensive remarks, aside from historical writing (e.g. To Kill a Mockingbird) or making a point about racism, cases in which it is accepted.

I agree it isn't the same as a racial slur but master and slave mean completely different things in different systems. Usually if not always there are more descriptive terms like primary and replica.
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