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master vs main
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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I've always taken issue with this "master" v. "main" argument.
People think it's "master" as in "master/slave", but forked branches are not "slaves".
Instead, it's "master" as in "master/proxy". The forked branches are altered copies of an original. We have remastered movies, music and games, and I've never seen anyone complain about the word in this context. Why should version control systems be any different?
I feel master as in "master copy" is sort of problematic too. Git has no concept of "master" as a "master copy". All the clones and forks are the same fidelity as the original. It's a hold over from source control which did have an authoritative repo like SVN/CVS.
I think they're just uncomfortable with the word "master", and that seems completely reasonable to me, especially when they're people from a group which has been subjected to slavery.
I don't recall any actual person saying they had an issue with it before corporations started changing it though, I always thought it was a precautionary measure more than likely thought up by a committee looking for exactly this sort of thing...
That said, it may be different in the US given the history of overall more systemic discrimination, and divisiveness over what's acceptable, rather than the fairly widely accepted casual slur-slinging and stereotyping you get in Europe.
I have heard people complain about it.
What makes you think that they have a committee like that?
Yeah I don't think anyone was called a remaster, different words even if they share the same root
Also master/slave was used in tech for awhile not just for forked branches, a couple examples are https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E88353_01/html/E37855/scsi-slave-9f.html in SCSI interfaces and replication systems like those used with databases https://jira.mariadb.org/plugins/servlet/mobile#issue/MDEV-18777
The original audio after mastering is also still called a master, but I haven't seen anyone complain about that. And that (as well as the same meaning for other media) is the word that the branch name master came from, so etymology can't really be an argument there (though I also think etymology is terrible reasoning for renaming something in general).