Hi Michael, Je ĵaŭ, 2019-04-25 je 11:46 +1000, Michael Gratton skribis:
Hi all, I'd like to formally propose as a GNOME Goal that GNOME modules replace references to the terms "master" and "slave".
I principally agree with this, if only because it makes the world a slightly better place. But I want to make the observation that not all "masters" are slaveholders. Words can have multiple meanings. So while "master"/"slave" terms as used in worker processes are probably due for replacement, I do not think that all instances of "master" are problematic. A webmaster is someone who is the boss/manager over a website, not a slaveholder. As such, I think the replacement of such a term should be considered separately, on different merits. There are certain arguments to be made for replacing the term webmaster: - "Master" is traditionally masculine. - "Master", as a word, is too easy to associate with slavery. - "Master", as a word, manages to offend/insult people regardless of its context. - There are better terms. I'm not saying these arguments are mine, or that they are the best arguments, but that they could reasonably be made. Specifically the Git master branch is a bit of a problem. I personally think that "trunk" is a much better term, but I do not have _that_ much of a problem with the word "master" in this context to do away with convention. Defaults and conventions matter. One reason I like GNOME so much is because the defaults are amazing. And while "master" is a bit of a sucky default, it still has a lot of weight as a default. And I question whether it is worth the effort to change that default over a tiny bit of suckiness. So I suppose that, for it to be worth it to change the default branch name, it needs to be demonstrated that the word "master" is harmful in this specific context. Alternatively, maybe Git upstream would be a much better place to propose this change? With kindness, Carmen
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