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Linux Team Approves New Terminology, Bans Terms Like 'Blacklist' and 'Slave'

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 15 2020, @12:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the ban-hammer dept.

mrpg writes:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-team-approves-new-terminology-bans-terms-like-blacklist-and-slave/

Linus Torvalds approved on Friday a new and more inclusive terminology for the Linux kernel code and documentation.

Going forward, Linux developers have been asked to use new terms for the master/slave and blacklist/whitelist terminologies.

The Linux team did not recommend any specific terms but asked developers to choose as appropriate.

The new terms are to be used for new source code written for the Linux kernel and its associated documentation.

The older terms, considered inadequate now, will only be allowed for maintaining older code and documentation, or "when updating code for an existing (as of 2020) hardware or protocol specification that mandates those terms."

Also At:
Linux kernel will no longer use terms 'blacklist' and 'slave'

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday July 15 2020, @02:02AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 15 2020, @02:02AM (#1021639) Journal

    if I see "blacklist" and "whitelist" I know exactly what I'm dealing with, but if I see "noodlelist" and "meatballlist" I have to spend ages reverse-engineering metadata to figure out what on earth each one is.

    Because allow/deny is such a hard terminology that the next easier choice is noddle/meat, right?
    Do you have a speech impediment?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Wednesday July 15 2020, @03:52AM (4 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 15 2020, @03:52AM (#1021710) Journal

    allow/deny is a poor choice because both terms have two syllables. pass/fail would work though. So would do/skip. And lots of other choices. Getting a new consensus, however, maybe difficult.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday July 15 2020, @04:10AM (1 child)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 15 2020, @04:10AM (#1021718) Journal

      Getting a new consensus, however, maybe difficult.

      Rrright. Even more so because Microsoft uses allow/deny for their ACL and Linux must never adopt Microsoft terminology (grin)

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      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

      • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 15 2020, @05:29AM

        by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday July 15 2020, @05:29AM (#1021738)

        Rrright. Even more so because Microsoft uses allow/deny for their ACL and Linux must never adopt Microsoft terminology (grin)

        Considering that if they did Microsoft would probably use it as grounds for a lawsuit so it might be for the best. (big grin)

        --
        "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2020, @05:36AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2020, @05:36AM (#1021740)

      That has sexual connotations that are offensive to those of us on the skip list.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:24AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2020, @04:24AM (#1022279)

        Not to mention ableist concerns. Many disabled people are not capable of skipping.