"Slave" is not a term used by Git or Github, and its use of "master" is not related to the vocabulary of "master/slave". Not the first to say this, but the media seems to be getting this all wrong.
> (this probably means you shouldn't give much weight to my name preferences :) )
> I have wished many times I would have named them "main" (and "upstream") instead.
> Glad it's happenning @natfriedman
1) I came from an SVN background and only switched to Git because I started working at companies that used it. I still prefer SVN's aesthetics (and I wish I had more opportunities to use Mercurial), so I would much rather have 'main' or 'trunk' than 'master'.
2) At my company, my team uses the forking workflow (i.e. we do all our work in our own forks and then submit PRs to merge into the repo on the central server). Whenever I clone and fork a repo, I always nuke the 'origin' remote and create two new ones: my own fork, which I name after my AD username at my company, and the repo on the central server, which I name 'upstream'. That way, whenever I pull or push, I don't have to worry about mindlessly pushing or pulling 'origin' and accidentally touching the wrong repo: if I accidentally do so, I'll just get an error. So I am very, very much used to pulling from 'upstream'.
> Out of curiosity, why 'master'? What was it meant to convey? 'Master' as in 'original' or as in 'owner'? [0]
the reply:
> "master" as in e.g. "master recording". Perhaps you could say the original, but viewed from the production process perspective. [1]
[0] https://twitter.com/yawaramin/status/1272237126474752005
In particular, how is it different from what is called "mainline" in other VCS systems?
This is actually a git concept not specific to GitHub.
I believe it's the same usage as used in music recording, e.g.
> an original movie, recording, or document from which copies can be made.
The word does come up in database replicas, which are often called master/slave. I can see a clear case where that would be offensive.
Renaming the master branch might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it's just easier to do that right now, and it's a small price to pay.
master
5b: an original from which copies can be made
especially : a master recording (such as a magnetic tape)
You can branch from master the way you duplicate a master tape cassette, and the copy is not any worse or subordinate. In fact the whole point is that the branches are improvements.
Git uses origin and clone for repositories.
https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...