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Discussion on: Replacing master in git

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Rémy 🤖

I've only ever seen white people care about this on Twitter and elsewhere. Admittedly this is cheaper than paying Deliveroo guys a decent wage though.

Do you have any sources of black people asking for this?

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Ben Halpern

This is most likely true, but I think that’s more because it’s exhausting to plead for self interest in all issues and I have spoken to a lot of folks who are really happy that this issue is being discussed and they don’t have to be heads deep on a relatively small issue.

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Rémy 🤖

My understanding of this is that black people have no access to education to become a developer and start caring about this. Also those who do that I could see expressing themselves on the topic say that they "don't give a fuck".

And definitely the racism around us is invisible because it is a part of normality and to be able to change it we're going to need to make deep changes. But the answer is there, deep changes. If you start with the sand there is no space for the big rock.

Let's take the problem in another way, with a lack of systemic oppression, would it still be a problem to have a concept of master/slave? Or just master in this case. It describes very accurately the technical concept. My ancestors were definitely salves to some Roman dude and in no way do I get hurt by the term.

Overall, I have no fundamental problem with using another name for the Git branch or describing my architecture another way, however it's like cleaning up your room instead of doing your homework: you're getting a sense of accomplishment for doing not so much.

And my fear is that a lot of the white people racing to ban "master" from their vocabulary are going to stop at this very effort because they feel they've done their part but this won't prevent them from shit-talking the Indian offshore team.

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Jen Chan

So yes, action often ends at acknowledgement and virtue signalling but this is the least bit that can be done to make work culture more inclusive. And uh, even if there are less people of colour (esp dark skinned folks) in tech doesnt mean they don't exist...

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Jen Chan

Yes there are and you don't have to look far. #blacktechpipeline Renaming the default branch is a super small act in comparison to the kind of things they want and are asking for.

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