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> the “master” branch is clearly using master in the sense that it asserts control of the other branches in some way Master as in expert, meritorious of comman

> the “master” branch is clearly using master in the sense that it asserts control of the other branches in some way Master as in expert, meritorious of command, arbiter of truth. They all mean the same and you can't have a master's degree without a master copy of information. Control is exerted only by virtue of being correct.

nitrogen 6y ago
Git's usage is clearly more like "golden master" in the recording sense -- the original from which other copies are made. Compare to other uses in technology that are far more directly related to control, and far less likely to change, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface
- evanlivingston 6y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIkmLiT6d0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIkmLiT6d0 wherein a black musician explores the idea of master/slave ownership in the recording industry. EDIT: So confusing to me why this was voted down. Please help.
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    EDIT: So confusing to me why this was voted down. Please help. I'm just speculating here -- HN doesn't even allow downvotes to direct responses, so it's not me -- a little more tie-in to the thread might help understand the context and relevance of a music video (HN tends to prefer text over video, and prose/exposition over music). Or maybe there's a bot that downvotes anything with certain words. Or maybe there are one or two people who happened to accidentally downvote because the button was lined up with their thumb when they were scrolling on their phones.
    - evanlivingston 6y ago
      alright, that's reasonable.
- dhimes 6y ago
  I was going to stay out of this, but I'll add that I agree entirely with this. Master/Slave flip-flops, on the other hand, are named for behavior closer to the connotation github is trying to avoid. And, I'll also add, as a young White child who built and played with master/slave flip-flops, it never occurred to me to associate it with people, slavery, or racism. Maybe if I had been Black it would have been different.
- DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
  > Git's usage is clearly more like "golden master" in the recording sense -- the original from which other copies are made. Maybe it's easy to spin this way, but that's not where git's terminology comes from. It originated in a system meant to migrate away from BitKeeper, which did use the master/slave terminology. Citation: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
  - kobberholm 6y ago
    This is addressed in the comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26499512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26499512 In short; no there is no master/slave terminology in Git. The person commenting on the Gnome mailing list was mistaken.
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    Has Linus or another early Git developer commented on this? If not, what matters is how people actually use Git today, to the extent that it should matter at all relative to other more significant things.
    - onetimeusename 6y ago
      yes[1], but it doesn't really matter because even if the intention is not to be a "master/slave" reference, people will still say it is offensive. So therefore it makes sense that banning other terms like "master of science" or "master record" would also be consistent here. [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20200706203737/https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441 https://web.archive.org/web/20200706203737/https://twitter.c...

nitrogen 6y ago

Git's usage is clearly more like "golden master" in the recording sense -- the original from which other copies are made. Compare to other uses in technology that are far more directly related to control, and far less likely to change, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface

evanlivingston 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIkmLiT6d0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILIkmLiT6d0 wherein a black musician explores the idea of master/slave ownership in the recording industry. EDIT: So confusing to me why this was voted down. Please help.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  EDIT: So confusing to me why this was voted down. Please help. I'm just speculating here -- HN doesn't even allow downvotes to direct responses, so it's not me -- a little more tie-in to the thread might help understand the context and relevance of a music video (HN tends to prefer text over video, and prose/exposition over music). Or maybe there's a bot that downvotes anything with certain words. Or maybe there are one or two people who happened to accidentally downvote because the button was lined up with their thumb when they were scrolling on their phones.
  - evanlivingston 6y ago
    alright, that's reasonable.
dhimes 6y ago
I was going to stay out of this, but I'll add that I agree entirely with this. Master/Slave flip-flops, on the other hand, are named for behavior closer to the connotation github is trying to avoid. And, I'll also add, as a young White child who built and played with master/slave flip-flops, it never occurred to me to associate it with people, slavery, or racism. Maybe if I had been Black it would have been different.
DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
> Git's usage is clearly more like "golden master" in the recording sense -- the original from which other copies are made. Maybe it's easy to spin this way, but that's not where git's terminology comes from. It originated in a system meant to migrate away from BitKeeper, which did use the master/slave terminology. Citation: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
- kobberholm 6y ago
  This is addressed in the comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26499512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26499512 In short; no there is no master/slave terminology in Git. The person commenting on the Gnome mailing list was mistaken.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  Has Linus or another early Git developer commented on this? If not, what matters is how people actually use Git today, to the extent that it should matter at all relative to other more significant things.
  - onetimeusename 6y ago
    yes[1], but it doesn't really matter because even if the intention is not to be a "master/slave" reference, people will still say it is offensive. So therefore it makes sense that banning other terms like "master of science" or "master record" would also be consistent here. [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20200706203737/https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441 https://web.archive.org/web/20200706203737/https://twitter.c...