Time for John to contribute some information about the etymology. -Denis
On Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 2:28 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > The etymology of the terms white and black list have absolutely nothing > to do with today's hyperracialized politics. > > James > > On 2021-07-22 16:55, Keith Lofstrom wrote: > > This might be a "plug-talk" subject, but it will affect > > how we write and use and archive Linux code, so it belongs > > on this list, practically speaking. > > > > I've used the terms "black-list" and "white-list" for half > > a century. I just realized those terms are ideologically > > incorrect, and will derail a discussion, sooner or later. > > > > A little googling revealed alternatives. > > > > An obvious (and technically more accurate) replacement for > > "black-list" is "BLOCK-list". A bit of work to relearn, > > but trivial to implement technically. When I forget and > > mistakenly say "black", I can pretend you misheard me :-) > > > > "WHITE-list" is harder, many more variants in play. > > "Allow-list" is one alternative (same number of letters); > > "Pass-list" is faster to say (same number of syllables). > > > > Maybe "Pass--list" is optimum, since cut-and-paste changes > > checksums but not line and file lengths. > > > > I bring this up now, and here, because I would like to > > resolve this and practice making the change before some > > politically-correct pecksniff derails a technical > > discussion. Virtue signalling has its place (plug-talk), > > but I hope we can make this transition together, without > > rancor, maintaining focus on technical virtuosity instead. > > > > Let's discuss this /technically/ here, /virtuously/ on > > plug-talk. When we decide what to do, TOGETHER, how do we > > propagate it through millions of lines of code written by > > thousands over decades? > > > > Keith > > > > P.S. Genetically, I am "very-dilute-black". Many people > > with southern-US ancestors are. Some west-African genes > > protect against malaria, endemic in the antebellum south. > > Linux systems were used to discover this. References > > available off-list; discuss on plug-talk. > > > > -- > > Keith Lofstrom [email protected] > > -- > James Bertelson > [email protected] > :wq >
