Microsoft’s Github drops ‘slave’ and ‘master’ terms amid protests
Code repository giant Github has said it is ditching parts of traditional software jargon to avoid causing offence as anti-racism protests continue worldwide.
Chief executive Nat Friedman said Github is developing a transition away from “master” — a term for the main version of code — to something more neutral.
As the world’s largest website for software developers, Github is used by more than 50m techies to store and access coding projects.
Master/slave is a coding model where one process controls others and serves as a communication hub for the group.
Though the campaign to change the terms has been ongoing for years, it gained new momentum when Google Chrome developer Una Kravets last week pledged to adopt new terminology.
Kravets said the change was worth making “if it prevents even a single black person from feeling more isolated in the tech community”.
The move comes as cities around the world erupt in protest at systemic racism, following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis last month.
Clashes continued in London over the weekend as far right groups took to the streets in response to organised protests by the Black Lives Matter movement. Across the country several statues of historical figures tied to slavery and racist views have been removed or boarded up to prevent vandalism.
Github was bought by Microsoft for $7.5bn in 2018, and holds a considerable amount of influence in the tech industry.
Attempts to drop antiquated computing terminology have been made before, but often falter as changes are required to be adopted universally to be successful.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said earlier this year it planned to stop using the terms “whitelist” and “blacklist” in an effort to be more neutral.