GitHub Won't Use the Term 'Master' Because It's Racist

It is an important resource in storing and sharing software projects. GitHubdecided to change the terms used on the platform. GitHub's change decision was personally announced by GitHub President Nat Friedman. 

Nat Friedman on Twitter A tweet from Chrome developer Una Kravets details the changes GitHub will make. According to Friedman's tweet, it is now available on GitHub, which also means 'master'. master The term main, meaning 'main', will be used instead. 

Una Kravets will replace the term master code, which is used in coding for the major version of the code. main's He said it was shorter and easier to remember. Kravets added that the new term will also make black people feel more comfortable. 

GitHub's choice of master and origin terms Peter Baudis In his previous statements, he said many times that he wished he had chosen the terms main instead of master and upstream instead of origin. 

Acquired by Microsoft some time ago GitHub Users can use their preferred terms for project versions and branches. However, GitHub changing the default terms may enable developers to start taking steps in this direction. 

A study conducted in 2018 about the terminology of the software world showed that the language used was only racist culture He argues that it not only reflects culture, but also strengthens, legitimizes and sustains this culture. 

GitHub is not the only organization that decided to change its terms after the protests that started after George Floyd was killed by the police. Apple too Instead of using the terms “blacklist” and “whitelist”, he decided to use the terms “blocklist” and “allowlist”. 

In 2018, similar racist expressions were removed from the Python programming language. drupalIn 2014, they started using the terms "primary" and "replica" instead of the terms "master" and "slave" in their codes. Changes for a more inclusive language were made long ago in Google's open source browser project Chromium.