The problem is that “master” means several things. There is Masters degree, master sword, master blacksmith, master copy, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with master / slave.
The Git “master” terminology came from “master copy”. There’s an email thread online where someone asked Linus Torvalds the origin and this is what he said.
The whole thing about it being about master / slave was some random uneducated person guessing, and they were wrong.
I agree that main is simpler and clearer, but it has nothing to do with racism.
Clarification: the “it” in the second sentence was referring to “blocklist/allowlist” specifically, not “main”
Of course the name “master” in the git context may mean something completely different from slavery or similar, but the possibility of misinterpretation is IMO another (maybe small) reason that new projects should consider using the clear and unambiguous “main” instead of “master”.
The problem is that “master” means several things. There is Masters degree, master sword, master blacksmith, master copy, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with master / slave.
The Git “master” terminology came from “master copy”. There’s an email thread online where someone asked Linus Torvalds the origin and this is what he said.
The whole thing about it being about master / slave was some random uneducated person guessing, and they were wrong.
I agree that main is simpler and clearer, but it has nothing to do with racism.
Clarification: the “it” in the second sentence was referring to “blocklist/allowlist” specifically, not “main”
Of course the name “master” in the git context may mean something completely different from slavery or similar, but the possibility of misinterpretation is IMO another (maybe small) reason that new projects should consider using the clear and unambiguous “main” instead of “master”.