The term "master" in software makes reference to the "Master/Slave" relationship. As one action to uproot this problematic terminology (see Meta bug), we should replace it.

The first 2 instances where "master" shows up is in Preferences/Options under Privacy & Security: "Use a master password" and "Change Master Password...".

What should we change it to? I don't know.

We talked about as a team before and didn't have great ideas but I think we could probably get away with removing the word "master" from the top-level of preferences doing something like:

[X] Protect saved credentials with a password [Change Password…]

and leaving "master password" as a keyword for search in the short term. Would anyone object to making this change (with CS input on the string) as a first step? 99% of users don't use the feature so removing the language from the checkbox would already significantly reduce the exposure of this term.

We probably still want a name to refer to this password so users know which password to enter when they are prompted. I guess we could use similar language like "Please enter the password used to protect saved credentials" or something like that? As long as the way we refer to the password is consistent it could work, though it's harder to search for on Google/SUMO/Preferences without a proper noun.

How about switching to "passphrase" instead?

Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase, "A passphrase is a sequence of words or other text used to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security."

That sounds exactly like what we need in this context.

(In reply to Andreas Bovens [:abovens] from comment #2)

How about switching to "passphrase" instead?

Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase, "A passphrase is a sequence of words or other text used to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security."

That sounds exactly like what we need in this context.

The distinction between password and passphrase is in terms of content/length, whereas the distinction here seems more like one of purpose.

Could we use "Control password" or "Main password"? Or, if we want to continue the analogy with keys, "skeleton password" (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_key )? That's possibly too technical though...

Katie, Betsy, Michelle, and I got together to talk.
Next steps:

1. Finish audit of current instances;
2. Content team to discuss options with localization team on Wednesday June 17;
3. Use transvision to file bugs to change;
4. Do an audit of instances of "master password" in SUMO;
5. Draft SUMO article stub explaining change in terminology.

Right now, the ball is in Content's court, and they'll update us on further next steps soon.

Thanks for the update; I just wanted to add some additional renaming ideas from others that came up in a meeting this morning:

• Stefan Zabka:

  • Root Password

• Johann Hofmann:

  • Something like Vault Key or another more real-world analogy?

• Nihanth Subramanya:

  • MacOS’s “Keychain” analogy has always worked great (e.g. “keychain password”)

We will be replacing the term Master Password in our product with Primary Password. All instances of this term should be replaced. See
Transvision for instances of where the term appears.

In preferences, we'd like to transition users to the new term, as immediately deprecating the term could be confusing to users who use it and are familiar with it. This transition language will apply on about:preferences#privacy and should remain for Release 80. By Release 81, the term Master Password should be deprecated entirely in the product.

Release 80
Use a Primary Password Learn more
Formerly known as Master Password
NOTE: Learn more will link to a SUMO article explaining the change in terminology. I will post the link ID once I have it.

Release 81
Use a Primary Password Learn more
NOTE: Same SUMO article link

Here's the stable link to the upcoming SUMO article ( https://support.mozilla.org/1/firefox/%VERSION%/%OS%/%LOCALE%/primary-password-change)

Please replace the version/os/locale part with real values and it will redirect to the upcoming SUMO article.

Comps attached of how these strings should look in Release 80 and Release 81.

Depends on D83895

Depends on D83896

TODO in more commits:

1. SUMO link (moved to bug 1653798)
2. transitional text for Fx80 (attachment 9163538 [details]) (moved to bug 1653798)
3. .properties references in security/

:Keeler, do you happen to know if we use security/manager/pki/resources/content/changepassword.js in Firefox? If not, do you know if other applications use it? It seems like Firefox uses toolkit/mozapps/preferences/changemp.js instead.

:Pike, is it fine to keep the two C++ references using .properties file after this change since there aren't any other consumers of Fluent from C++ yet and we want this in Fx80?