Change 'master' branch name to 'main'

[perlun]

While I don't personally see a problem with the master branch name, I am well aware that others feel it is offensive and want to avoid it for this reason. I've tried to summarize some of the details around this in this ticket, hopefully in a reasonably neutral and balanced way (even though neutrality is much harder in practice than in theory...).

Pros

• It can make the project "feel more inclusive" to people who are offended by the master terminology.
• It avoids language which some feel is offensive.
• It doesn't cost much.

Cons

• It can be considered a solution looking for a problem.
• It doesn't in any way help solve problems for people who are really affected by modern slavery (i.e. human trafficing).
• It tends to put the focus on minor things (like the name of the mainline branch for a software project) instead of making real changes in people's lives (like giving a small amount of money every month to a charity).

What are other FOSS projects doing?

• Languages & groups using main
  • .NET - all pinned projects except for one (installer) have switched to main
    • The dotnet organization has decided to rename all default branches to main: The dotnet org will rename all default branches to main dotnet/announcements#172
  • F#: uses main
  • Node.js: uses master
    • Changed to main in June 2022: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/
      33864#issuecomment-1139645911
  • Python: changed from master to main around May 2021: Update CI files to account for the master -> main rename python/cpython#25860
  • Rakudo (i.e. "Perl 6"): uses master
    • Seem to have changed at around December 2022: rakudo/rakudo@c3e0eb7
• Languages & groups using master
  • Ruby: uses master
  • Java (OpenJDK): uses master
• Javascript frameworks
  • Ember.js: uses master
    • Changed to main sometime around April 2023: Update master to main where used emberjs/ember.js#20436
  • React: changed from master to main in June 2021: The primary branch has been renamed from "master" to "main" facebook/react#21767
  • Angular: uses master
    • Changed to main sometime before May 2022: build: clean up references to old master branch angular/angular#45856

What are the projects with the most stars on GitHub doing?

Based on data from https://github.com/EvanLi/Github-Ranking#most-stars

• 3 repos use main
• 6 repos use master
• 1 repo uses something else

Noteworthy quotes

somecoder wrote as a comment to Scott Hanselman's blog post (emphasis is mine)

sorry guys, I know you have good intentions here, but I believe you are actually doing damage.

I noticed a trend recently that in many cases, our black fellows don't take a situation offensive - the white liberals do it in their name - at least that is what they think they do. For sure, that have not been asked to do so. So they just assume they are acting in other persons best interest.

But it actually does something opposite to the intention. It implies that black people are incredible fragile. It implies that you cannot be relaxed in their presence, but must constantly pay attention to your vocabulary.

I mean, think about it. Is this really closing the racial divide or expanding it? Does anyone particularly enjoy standing in the middle of mine field? Because this is what you are effectively doing. You are tossing mines around race, so I am no longer able to enjoy the company, but constantly fear that something is about to explode.

Further reading

• Software Freedom Conservancy: Regarding Git and Branch Naming
• GitHub: Renaming the default branch from master
• Felipe Contreras: Why renaming Git’s master branch is a terrible idea
• Scott Hanselman: Easily rename your Git default branch from master to main

[perlun]

My personal stance on this: I have a greater understanding that master/slave is considered offensive than the word master in itself. "Master" is a much broader word than the specific master/slave context.

For now, I think I'll end up with considering this a "wontfix" issue. If a number of other programming languages (and git projects at large) follow suite with the .NET folks and we end up being in minority here, I think I'll be open to reconsidering this.

If you personally are offended by this (the master branch name wording), I'm also particularly interested in hearing from you. Your opinion is valuable to me! 👍 Especially if you have ancestors who suffered from slavery, feel free to reach out to me (in private if you so prefer). You can find my contact details in my GitHub profile.

[perlun]

(Updated the issue description in #171 (comment) with the current state of the other repos mentioned)