[RFC] Bound branch terminology, master/slave?

[Martin Pool]

On 8 Mar 2006, at 21:58 , David Allouche wrote:

> Summary: Do you agree to rename "bound branch" to "slave branch"?

I agree with Aaron that those terms can be offensive, and possibly  
should be avoided if there's a good alternative.  (For example distcc  
calls the servers "volunteers", though people keep informally calling  
them slaves.)  On the other hand "master/slave" are pretty well  
established in computing, and other arguably offensive terms are  
commonly used.

I'm not sure "slave" is really very accurate because sometimes it can  
gain control of what happens to the main branch.  They're something  
like a chain gang...  Perhaps "subordinate" branch, or "tied branch"...

> Damien Boucard (hackter in #bzr) our stalwart french wiki translator,
> recently translated the wiki documentation about bound branches.
>
> He initially translated "bound branch" as "branche bornée", which is
> quite unfortunate. "Bornée" is indeed the correct translation for the
> mathematical term, as in "bound value", but it also common language  
> for
> "dumb and obtuse", and does not convey the "rope-tied bondage" meaning
> at all.

I haven't ever done a translation, but wouldn't it be OK to use words  
that correspond to the correct idea, rather than the literally  
correct word?  For nouns that are analogies to real-world object the  
correct analogy may vary between cultures.
>
> We agreed to tranlate "bound branch" as "branch asservie", which
> actually means "slave branch". Damien pointed out that the meaning of
> "bound branch" was not obvious to non-english speakers.

Did he mean not obvious in translation, or not obvious to non-native  
speakers reading it in English?

-- 
Martin Pool