linux-kernel - Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [PATCH] CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:   Mon, 6 Jul 2020 09:22:21 +0200
From:   Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To:     NeilBrown <neilb@...e.com>
Cc:     Matthew Wilcox <willy6545@...il.com>,
        Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@...el.com>,
        Chris Mason <clm@...clm>,
        tech-board-discuss@...ts.linuxfoundation.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        ksummit <ksummit-discuss@...ts.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [PATCH] CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology

On Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 05:10:37PM +1000, NeilBrown wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 04 2020, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> 
> > Another suggestion for "slave" replacement should be "device". This is in
> > the context of the w1 bus which is by far the largest user of the
> > master/slave terminology in the kernel.
> 
> Ugh.  Please, no.  "device" doesn't mean anything, in that you can use
> it to refer to any thing.  (i.e. it is almost semantically equivalent to
> "thing").

Context is everything, you can have a "controller" and a "device" that
the controller controls.  These are common terms in many specs today,
look at the USB spec for an example of these terms being used in this
way for many decades.

So while the term might be generic, like the word it is replacing, it
makes sense when used in the context it will show up in, so it is a good
replacement in many instances.

thanks,

greg k-h