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

[steven36]

GitHub getting on board legitimizes movement aimed at removing racially-charged language from software.

 

 

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 Android mobile operating system, the Go programming language, 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.

 

For example, ZDNet found that projects like the OpenSSL encryption software library, automation software Ansible, Microsoft's PowerShell scripting language, the P5.js JavaScript library, and many others are looking at changing the name of their default source code repos, in a bid to stamp out racially-charged and slavery-related terms, in a way of showing support for the BLM movement and their protests.

 

The move has taken the open source development community by storm, so much so that even the Git project itself is now considering an official change, albeit discussions in its mailing list and GitHub Issues section are still going on, with considerable pushback.

GitHub support legitimizes and streamlines movement

But even if Git formally replaces the "master" name or not, GitHub appears to have decided to move on, regardless of Git's decision.

 

On Friday, Google Chrome developer Una Kravets tweeted that the Chrome project was considering a similar move of renaming the default branch of the Chrome browser source code from "master" to a neutral term like "main."

 

Kravets asked GitHub to follow Google in its move and help drive change across the industry, a move to which GitHub CEO Nat Friedman answered promptly, revealing that the company was already working on the issue.

 

GitHub lending its backing to this movement effectively ensures the term will be removed across millions of projects, and effectively legitimizes the effort to clean up software terminology that started this month.

 

But, in reality, these efforts started years ago, in 2014, when the Drupal project first moved in to replace "master/slave" terminology with "primary/replica."

 

Drupal's move was followed by the Python programming language, Chromium (the open source browser project at the base of Chrome), Microsoft's Roslyn .NET compiler, and the PostgreSQL and Redis database systems.

 

However, despite some pretty big projects getting on board, efforts to clean up software language across the years have not been widely embraced.

 

Most detractors and the explanation that often resurfaces in these discussions is that terms like master/slave are now more broadly used to describe technical scenarios than actual slavery and that the word "blacklist" has nothing to do with black people, but the practice of using black books in medieval England to write down the names of problematic workers to avoid hiring in the future.

 

Source

[rockstar]

We did it. We ended racism

-PR team at GitHub

i support BLM movement. but this is stupid

[mincemeat]

"Tear down the pyramids!

They were built by slaves!"

The world has gone mad.

[shamu726]

[trufpal]

I'm all for fighting against discrimination, racism and injustice. But stuff like this always boggles my mind. It's just completely dumb. What's next? Erasing all "offensive" words from dictionary?

[Dodel]

Need to get rid of "master" key, "master" is in a child under the age of 16 *UK anyhow*, master obi wan kenobi..... if we follow this ideology.

 

 

[2Old2Remember]

Slavery have never entered my mind when using these tech terms. lol this is a new revelation to me. Thought it sounds stupid, it begs me to wonder why the people who coined these tech names use these specific connotations in the first place.

[steven36]

5 hours ago, trufpal said:

I'm all for fighting against discrimination, racism and injustice. But stuff like this always boggles my mind. It's just completely dumb. What's next? Erasing all "offensive" words from dictionary?

That's how dumb the world is whole countries , states , etc tare  down  and remove certain stuff to  that remind them of the past . It's not new the scary part about if you remove the truth thinking it will go away by sweeping it under the rug the offenders will be able to do stuff unnoticed because the problem dont exist in the public media  because they removed it from there history.

 

It like when the USSR  still stood and they said  there is no murder in paradise you could kill people and get away with it because they deny it's existent. slavery is still a problem  but it no longer has anything to do with the color of your skin . . Human traffickers of today  don't care what color  you are . Lets remove the words from history in hopes it will go away but that's not going to stop it. Even racism  it happens offline more than it does online and you can't stop it offline by removing it online . They use the prisons to get new people not Facebook.

 

What a better place  to find someone who hates everybody and everything than in jail ? They way it works  in there everybody is racist they all hate each other and if you don't  have protection you will be killed  so many young people  join these groups because they don't want to be raped  and/or  killed while doing there time and  it is very hard to get out of once you join  if you try to leave the group could kill you.

 

What Big Tech is doing is for there own benefit so they wont  be shunned  it just like  back in 2013 when Snowden exposed them, Apple and others try to profit off it.

 

GitHub and Microsoft  has no morals when it comes to who they sell too , not to sell to someone  , it has to be illegal in the USA and still they will try to get the law changed. They even sell to ICE that ship immigrants back , raciest ,warmongers  and everything else . they only have ethics on paper but if it got to do with money  they have no ethics. And thats always been a problem every since they was Big Tech they play all sides. The oldest Tech Company IBM sold stuff to Nazi Germany and they try  to remove that from the history books too.

 

 

Microsoft even backed the bill in California that didn't pass for face surveillance  they want to kill  every once privacy just so they call sell  the software to the state.

 

 

[TrojanK]

"whitelist" means "allow list", and "blacklist" means "deny/exclude list"..right?

 

Even if it doesn't end racism or slavery, what could go wrong if they decide to do it tomorrow?

 

I think they know it's the right time to do such things for themselves.

[stylemessiah2]

Im white, and grew up with every opportunity open to me, so im not telling anyone what is or isnt acceptable on this one...

[steven36]

26 minutes ago, TrojanK said:

Even if it doesn't end racism or slavery, what could go wrong if they decide to do it tomorrow?

Nothing is going to go wrong but it troublesome  for all the repos on there  to have reconfigure  it  for there site if they want to use there sites they will have to  reconfigure  it  to go to the new root  and it will give people who dont like change  something to complain about . GitHub  is a very valuable site but when Microsoft bought it many left and went to other git sites. If you make apps that do piracy and Microsoft remove your repo you want have a choice but to use another git site.

 

Github  is own by Microsoft  if they get threaten  by lawyers  they will  put your project under  the bus that why many good apps are at not a bug  and other git sites now.

[steven36]

Here  explains more on why  tech companies  are making changes to try to please the protesters 

 

High-tech surveillance amplifies police bias and overreach

https://theconversation.com/high-tech-surveillance-amplifies-police-bias-and-overreach-140225

 

Before it was about them being in bed with the NSA  (state spokes) in 2013 . This is why we have all these people using encryption now.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

 

Now it's about Big tech  selling surveillance to the Local and State Police that help them commit  hate crimes.

 

Quote

California privacy and civil liberties advocates are mobilizing to thwart a bill backed by Microsoft Corp. that would regulate facial recognition technology and that is working its way through the state legislature.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-activists-ramp-up-fight-against-facial-recognition-technology-11590485400

 

Microsoft failed  to get this bill passed California

https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/06/04/california-blocks-bill-that-couldve-led-to-a-facial-recognition-police-state/

 

People are so mad at Big Tech over helping the police  Microsoft , IBM  and Amazon are back pedaling  now 

 

Microsoft won’t sell police its facial-recognition technology, following similar moves by Amazon and IBM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/11/microsoft-facial-recognition/

 

Well Microsoft is still deep in bed  with the Goverment they hold contracts with Pentagon but  since  the pubic are not paying any mind to the goverment they have to please  the masses  that are mad at the police . While the Goverment is  trying to pass a bill to kill Big Tech from using encryption .Everybody worried about what the police is doing the goverment is going to sneak in and take there privacy while  they worried about the Police doing hate crimes.

 

Congress introduces EARN IT Act, which would end encryption programs but violates the Constitution

https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/06/13/congress-introduces-earn-it-act-which-would-end-encryption-programs-but-violates-the-constitution/

 

If this passes  this going to set the internet back to like it was before Snowden were they know everything you do online.