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It's been more than a month since I last added
to this story. We wondered if we needed a
politically correct alternative to "master/slave"
and, if so, what alternative was suitable; then
the product design changed and I wondered whether
mirroring might not be a more appropriate metaphor.
But a slave is to a master as a mirror is to what?
Well, as Eric wrote, "A mirror (in disk usage
terminology) is simply a mirror." And in writing
the documentation I found that-- to my surprise
more than to Eric's, I guess-- I never needed a
word for that which the mirror reflects. But
for the mirror we didn't use the word "mirror."
Someone found "replica" in a Sun manual and liked
that word better.
I suppose that's the end of the story, unless later
I find that I need a word for that which the replica
replicates. Would the proper spelling be "replicee"
or "replickee"?