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I switched to trunk back when the witch hunt started raging. Fossil uses it, it's the original[0] term, and it completes the metaphor. What do the branches bran

I switched to trunk back when the witch hunt started raging. Fossil uses it, it's the original[0] term, and it completes the metaphor. What do the branches branch off? Why the trunk, of course. As a matter of policy, I refuse to be swayed by the opinions of busybodies as to what is or isn't offensive. I will continue to use blacklists, for example, but am happy to retire the master/slave pairing: it's not a great metaphor to begin with, and a reasonable person can see where those of recent descent from the enslaved might take exception to it. There's nothing at all wrong with having a master branch, either, the metaphor is entirely anodyne and no honest person takes umbrage at it. But that whole absurd episode got me thinking about the nomenclature, I had been working with Fossil on a hobby project shortly before, and figured that if there's another word which I prefer, I may as well take the opportunity to switch. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branching_(version_control) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branching_(version_control)

lobocinza 3y ago
I use main just because it's shorter than master.
wakawaka28 3y ago
>I switched to trunk back when the witch hunt started raging. >As a matter of policy, I refuse to be swayed by the opinions of busybodies as to what is or isn't offensive. Well, you have said multiple ways that you have been swayed. I agree with you about all of this whining and word-policing coming from people who have dubious intentions. Nobody sane is offended by these terms. It's just a way for "victims" to seek clout and bully everyone else. Fossil is cool but alas it will never be mainstream. It does have some nice features, but there are technical downsides such as storing files in a single binary sqlite database (which is a benefit for small projects, but a bad solution for large projects). If nothing else, backing up Fossil repos will take an ever-increasing amount of space compared to an equivalent git repo, as git repos can be backed up incrementally.
- samatman 3y ago
  > Well, you have said multiple ways that you have been swayed. I tried to address this in my first post, but don't mind elaborating. I think trunk is the better term. I felt that way before all the absurdity surrounding master branches, but not so strongly that it had even occurred to me to set it as a git default and migrate my projects to use it. The sick power games of moral busybodies were causal in the sense that it started "a conversation" (ugh) about branch naming, with the result that I now use trunk on my own projects. If I had stuck with master despite preferring trunk, just to show them what's what, that is also being swayed by the opinions of busybodies, just in the other direction. The busybodies of the world also want me to wear a seatbelt, after all. We have a confluence of wants there. Similar deal with referring to various software components as slaves. I find that distasteful. I didn't need the language police to raise that topic to have that opinion. It's not even a good metaphor! Should I insist on using it just because the people who throw a hissyfit about blacklists share my dislike for that terminology? That is also being swayed by their opinions. Anyway: > Fossil is cool but alas it will never be mainstream. Indeed, a nice bit of software, pleasure to work with. Rather too narrowly tuned to D. Richard Hipp's needs to be mainstream. I proposed on the Fossil mailiing list (right before they shipped a built-in forum) to separate the core features into a libfossil so people could use it as a component of other systems, but for a few reasons (which I found persuasive fwiw) they don't plan to do so. I would still like to see pijul displace git, but as the years pass the odds of that steadily decrease. Ah well.
  - wakawaka28 3y ago
    I used to find git slightly confusing as well, but it just takes a bit of patience to learn. The last thing we need is a dozen roughly-equivalent VCS tools to worry about, so I'm sticking with git. People can come up with aliases or something for people who don't get it. >If I had stuck with master despite preferring trunk, just to show them what's what, that is also being swayed by the opinions of busybodies, just in the other direction. This is pretty subtle. I would discourage the use of unconventional names for your branches, just because it creates more confusion. Were you influenced if you kept things the same because you didn't like the idea of change or the messengers asking you to do it? I guess technically, you could be psychologically influenced and not make any actual change. But to other people, your state of mind is not the object of interest, especially if it produces no outcome. They only care if you made the change or not. Thus, if you were not persuaded to change anything, then you weren't influenced. >Similar deal with referring to various software components as slaves. [...] It's not even a good metaphor! It is a good metaphor in fact. Slaves are workers that take assignments from their owner (and not others), among other things. At least in some contexts, you could list several things that a master/supervisor does that directly mirror how human slaves operate. If it was a bad metaphor, semantically speaking, then people would be legitimately confused when it was used. Nobody ever said they found it confusing before the language police rolled up. I will admit that having "slave" stuff is perhaps in poor taste. You could make a far better case for that than the use of the word "master". The trouble with all of this is, language policing is not primarily about the words. We won't be rid of the language police after making the suggested changes. They want power. Language and preferences are coming full circle to where "colored people" is bad but "person of color" is good, segregation and discrimination are ok again (especially to the exclusion of whites), etc. Martin Luther King would be appalled at the modern left.

lobocinza 3y ago

I use main just because it's shorter than master.

wakawaka28 3y ago

>I switched to trunk back when the witch hunt started raging. >As a matter of policy, I refuse to be swayed by the opinions of busybodies as to what is or isn't offensive. Well, you have said multiple ways that you have been swayed. I agree with you about all of this whining and word-policing coming from people who have dubious intentions. Nobody sane is offended by these terms. It's just a way for "victims" to seek clout and bully everyone else. Fossil is cool but alas it will never be mainstream. It does have some nice features, but there are technical downsides such as storing files in a single binary sqlite database (which is a benefit for small projects, but a bad solution for large projects). If nothing else, backing up Fossil repos will take an ever-increasing amount of space compared to an equivalent git repo, as git repos can be backed up incrementally.

samatman 3y ago
> Well, you have said multiple ways that you have been swayed. I tried to address this in my first post, but don't mind elaborating. I think trunk is the better term. I felt that way before all the absurdity surrounding master branches, but not so strongly that it had even occurred to me to set it as a git default and migrate my projects to use it. The sick power games of moral busybodies were causal in the sense that it started "a conversation" (ugh) about branch naming, with the result that I now use trunk on my own projects. If I had stuck with master despite preferring trunk, just to show them what's what, that is also being swayed by the opinions of busybodies, just in the other direction. The busybodies of the world also want me to wear a seatbelt, after all. We have a confluence of wants there. Similar deal with referring to various software components as slaves. I find that distasteful. I didn't need the language police to raise that topic to have that opinion. It's not even a good metaphor! Should I insist on using it just because the people who throw a hissyfit about blacklists share my dislike for that terminology? That is also being swayed by their opinions. Anyway: > Fossil is cool but alas it will never be mainstream. Indeed, a nice bit of software, pleasure to work with. Rather too narrowly tuned to D. Richard Hipp's needs to be mainstream. I proposed on the Fossil mailiing list (right before they shipped a built-in forum) to separate the core features into a libfossil so people could use it as a component of other systems, but for a few reasons (which I found persuasive fwiw) they don't plan to do so. I would still like to see pijul displace git, but as the years pass the odds of that steadily decrease. Ah well.
- wakawaka28 3y ago
  I used to find git slightly confusing as well, but it just takes a bit of patience to learn. The last thing we need is a dozen roughly-equivalent VCS tools to worry about, so I'm sticking with git. People can come up with aliases or something for people who don't get it. >If I had stuck with master despite preferring trunk, just to show them what's what, that is also being swayed by the opinions of busybodies, just in the other direction. This is pretty subtle. I would discourage the use of unconventional names for your branches, just because it creates more confusion. Were you influenced if you kept things the same because you didn't like the idea of change or the messengers asking you to do it? I guess technically, you could be psychologically influenced and not make any actual change. But to other people, your state of mind is not the object of interest, especially if it produces no outcome. They only care if you made the change or not. Thus, if you were not persuaded to change anything, then you weren't influenced. >Similar deal with referring to various software components as slaves. [...] It's not even a good metaphor! It is a good metaphor in fact. Slaves are workers that take assignments from their owner (and not others), among other things. At least in some contexts, you could list several things that a master/supervisor does that directly mirror how human slaves operate. If it was a bad metaphor, semantically speaking, then people would be legitimately confused when it was used. Nobody ever said they found it confusing before the language police rolled up. I will admit that having "slave" stuff is perhaps in poor taste. You could make a far better case for that than the use of the word "master". The trouble with all of this is, language policing is not primarily about the words. We won't be rid of the language police after making the suggested changes. They want power. Language and preferences are coming full circle to where "colored people" is bad but "person of color" is good, segregation and discrimination are ok again (especially to the exclusion of whites), etc. Martin Luther King would be appalled at the modern left.