1 Coding conventions in the Samba tree
2 ------------------------------------
10 Coding style guidelines are about reducing the number of unnecessary
11 reformatting patches and making things easier for developers to work together.
12 You don't have to like them or even agree with them, but once put in place
13 we all have to abide by them (or vote to change them). However, coding
14 style should never outweigh coding itself and so the the guidelines
15 described here are hopefully easy enough to follow as they are very
16 common and supported by tools and editors.
18 The basic style, also mentioned in prog_guide4.txt, is the Linux kernel coding
19 style (See Documentation/CodingStyle in the kernel source tree). This closely
20 matches what most Samba developers use already anyways.
22 But to save you the trouble of reading the Linux kernel style guide, here
25 * Maximum Line Width is 80 Characters
26 The reason is not for people with low-res screens but rather sticking
27 to 80 columns prevents you from easily nesting more than one level of
28 if statements or other code blocks. Use source/script/count_80_col.pl
29 to check your changes.
31 * Use 8 Space Tabs to Indent
34 * No Trailing Whitespace
35 Use source/script/strip_trail_ws.pl to clean you files before committing.
37 * Follow the K&R guidelines. We won't go throw them all here. You have
38 a copy of "The C Programming Language" anyways right? You can also use
39 the format_indent.sh script found in source/script/ if all else fails.
49 Add the follow to your $HOME/.emacs file:
51 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook
54 (c-toggle-auto-state)))
59 (Thanks to SATOH Fumiyasu <fumiyas@osstech.jp> for these hints):
61 For the basic vi editor including with all variants of \*nix, add the
62 following to $HOME/.exrc:
67 For Vim, the following settings in $HOME/.vimrc will also deal with
68 displaying trailing whitespace::
70 if has("syntax") && (&t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running"))
72 function! ActivateInvisibleCharIndicator()
73 syntax match TrailingSpace "[ \t]\+$" display containedin=ALL
74 highlight TrailingSpace ctermbg=Red
76 autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead * call ActivateInvisibleCharIndicator()
78 " Show tabs, trailing whitespace, and continued lines visually
79 set list listchars=tab:»·,trail:·,extends:…
81 " highlight overly long lines same as TODOs.
83 autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.c,*.h exec 'match Todo /\%>' . &textwidth . 'v.\+/'
86 =========================
87 FAQ & Statement Reference
88 =========================
93 Comments should always use the standard C syntax. C++
94 style comments are not currently allowed.
97 Indention & Whitespace & 80 columns
98 -----------------------------------
100 To avoid confusion, indentations are to be 8 character with tab (not
101 8 ' ' characters. When wrapping parameters for function calls,
102 alignment parameter list with the first parameter on the previous line.
103 Use tabs to get as close as possible and then fill in the final 7
104 characters or less with whitespace. For example,
106 var1 = foo(arg1, arg2,
109 The previous example is intended to illustrate alignment of function
110 parameters across lines and not as encourage for gratuitous line
111 splitting. Never split a line before columns 70 - 79 unless you
112 have a really good reason. Be smart about formatting.
115 If, switch, & Code blocks
116 -------------------------
118 Always follow an 'if' keyword with a space but don't include additional
119 spaces following or preceding the parentheses in the conditional.
128 Yes we have a lot of code that uses the second form and we are trying
129 to clean it up without being overly intrusive.
131 Note that this is a rule about parentheses following keywords and not
132 functions. Don't insert a space between the name and left parentheses when
135 Braces for code blocks used by for, if, switch, while, do..while, etc...
136 should begin on the same line as the statement keyword and end on a line
137 of their own. NOTE: Functions are different and the beginning left brace
138 should begin on a line of its own.
140 If the beginning statement has to be broken across lines due to length,
141 the beginning brace should be on a line of its own.
143 The exception to the ending rule is when the closing brace is followed by
144 another language keyword such as else or the closing while in a do..while
161 printf("also good\n");
168 print("I'm in a loop!\n"); }
174 While many people have been academically taught that goto's are fundamentally
175 evil, they can greatly enhance readability and reduce memory leaks when used
176 as the single exit point from a function. But in no Samba world what so ever
177 is a goto outside of a function or block of code a good idea.
181 int function foo(int y)
187 z = malloc(sizeof(int)*y);
194 print("Allocated %d elements.\n", y);
204 Checking Pointer Values
205 -----------------------
207 When invoking functions that return pointer values, either of the following
208 are acceptable. Use you best judgement and choose the more readable option.
209 Remember that many other people will review it.::
211 if ((x = malloc(sizeof(short)*10)) == NULL ) {
212 fprintf(stderr, "Unable to alloc memory!\n");
217 x = malloc(sizeof(short)*10);
219 fprintf(stderr, "Unable to alloc memory!\n");
226 Samba has large amounts of historical code which makes use of data types
227 commonly supported by the C99 standard. However, at the time such types
228 as boolean and exact width integers did not exist and Samba developers
229 were forced to provide their own. Now that these types are guaranteed to
230 be available either as part of the compiler C99 support or from lib/replace/,
231 new code should adhere to the following conventions:
233 * Booleans are of type "bool" (not BOOL)
234 * Boolean values are "true" and "false" (not True or False)
235 * Exact width integers are of type [u]int[8|16|32|64]_t