2 Linux kernel coding style
4 This is a short document describing the preferred coding style for the
5 linux kernel. Coding style is very personal, and I won't _force_ my
6 views on anybody, but this is what goes for anything that I have to be
7 able to maintain, and I'd prefer it for most other things too. Please
8 at least consider the points made here.
10 First off, I'd suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards,
11 and NOT read it. Burn them, it's a great symbolic gesture.
16 Chapter 1: Indentation
18 Tabs are 8 characters, and thus indentations are also 8 characters.
19 There are heretic movements that try to make indentations 4 (or even 2!)
20 characters deep, and that is akin to trying to define the value of PI to
23 Rationale: The whole idea behind indentation is to clearly define where
24 a block of control starts and ends. Especially when you've been looking
25 at your screen for 20 straight hours, you'll find it a lot easier to see
26 how the indentation works if you have large indentations.
28 Now, some people will claim that having 8-character indentations makes
29 the code move too far to the right, and makes it hard to read on a
30 80-character terminal screen. The answer to that is that if you need
31 more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix
34 In short, 8-char indents make things easier to read, and have the added
35 benefit of warning you when you're nesting your functions too deep.
38 The preferred way to ease multiple indentation levels in a switch statement is
39 to align the "switch" and its subordinate "case" labels in the same column
40 instead of "double-indenting" the "case" labels. E.g.:
60 Don't put multiple statements on a single line unless you have
63 if (condition) do_this;
64 do_something_everytime;
66 Don't put multiple assignments on a single line either. Kernel coding style
67 is super simple. Avoid tricky expressions.
69 Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never
70 used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken.
72 Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines.
75 Chapter 2: Breaking long lines and strings
77 Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly
80 The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a strongly
83 Statements longer than 80 columns will be broken into sensible chunks.
84 Descendants are always substantially shorter than the parent and are placed
85 substantially to the right. The same applies to function headers with a long
86 argument list. Long strings are as well broken into shorter strings. The
87 only exception to this is where exceeding 80 columns significantly increases
88 readability and does not hide information.
90 void fun(int a, int b, int c)
93 printk(KERN_WARNING "Warning this is a long printk with "
94 "3 parameters a: %u b: %u "
100 Chapter 3: Placing Braces and Spaces
102 The other issue that always comes up in C styling is the placement of
103 braces. Unlike the indent size, there are few technical reasons to
104 choose one placement strategy over the other, but the preferred way, as
105 shown to us by the prophets Kernighan and Ritchie, is to put the opening
106 brace last on the line, and put the closing brace first, thusly:
112 This applies to all non-function statement blocks (if, switch, for,
126 However, there is one special case, namely functions: they have the
127 opening brace at the beginning of the next line, thus:
134 Heretic people all over the world have claimed that this inconsistency
135 is ... well ... inconsistent, but all right-thinking people know that
136 (a) K&R are _right_ and (b) K&R are right. Besides, functions are
137 special anyway (you can't nest them in C).
139 Note that the closing brace is empty on a line of its own, _except_ in
140 the cases where it is followed by a continuation of the same statement,
141 ie a "while" in a do-statement or an "else" in an if-statement, like
160 Also, note that this brace-placement also minimizes the number of empty
161 (or almost empty) lines, without any loss of readability. Thus, as the
162 supply of new-lines on your screen is not a renewable resource (think
163 25-line terminal screens here), you have more empty lines to put
166 Do not unnecessarily use braces where a single statement will do.
171 This does not apply if one branch of a conditional statement is a single
172 statement. Use braces in both branches.
183 Linux kernel style for use of spaces depends (mostly) on
184 function-versus-keyword usage. Use a space after (most) keywords. The
185 notable exceptions are sizeof, typeof, alignof, and __attribute__, which look
186 somewhat like functions (and are usually used with parentheses in Linux,
187 although they are not required in the language, as in: "sizeof info" after
188 "struct fileinfo info;" is declared).
190 So use a space after these keywords:
191 if, switch, case, for, do, while
192 but not with sizeof, typeof, alignof, or __attribute__. E.g.,
193 s = sizeof(struct file);
195 Do not add spaces around (inside) parenthesized expressions. This example is
198 s = sizeof( struct file );
200 When declaring pointer data or a function that returns a pointer type, the
201 preferred use of '*' is adjacent to the data name or function name and not
202 adjacent to the type name. Examples:
205 unsigned long long memparse(char *ptr, char **retptr);
206 char *match_strdup(substring_t *s);
208 Use one space around (on each side of) most binary and ternary operators,
209 such as any of these:
211 = + - < > * / % | & ^ <= >= == != ? :
213 but no space after unary operators:
214 & * + - ~ ! sizeof typeof alignof __attribute__ defined
216 no space before the postfix increment & decrement unary operators:
219 no space after the prefix increment & decrement unary operators:
222 and no space around the '.' and "->" structure member operators.
224 Do not leave trailing whitespace at the ends of lines. Some editors with
225 "smart" indentation will insert whitespace at the beginning of new lines as
226 appropriate, so you can start typing the next line of code right away.
227 However, some such editors do not remove the whitespace if you end up not
228 putting a line of code there, such as if you leave a blank line. As a result,
229 you end up with lines containing trailing whitespace.
231 Git will warn you about patches that introduce trailing whitespace, and can
232 optionally strip the trailing whitespace for you; however, if applying a series
233 of patches, this may make later patches in the series fail by changing their
239 C is a Spartan language, and so should your naming be. Unlike Modula-2
240 and Pascal programmers, C programmers do not use cute names like
241 ThisVariableIsATemporaryCounter. A C programmer would call that
242 variable "tmp", which is much easier to write, and not the least more
243 difficult to understand.
245 HOWEVER, while mixed-case names are frowned upon, descriptive names for
246 global variables are a must. To call a global function "foo" is a
249 GLOBAL variables (to be used only if you _really_ need them) need to
250 have descriptive names, as do global functions. If you have a function
251 that counts the number of active users, you should call that
252 "count_active_users()" or similar, you should _not_ call it "cntusr()".
254 Encoding the type of a function into the name (so-called Hungarian
255 notation) is brain damaged - the compiler knows the types anyway and can
256 check those, and it only confuses the programmer. No wonder MicroSoft
257 makes buggy programs.
259 LOCAL variable names should be short, and to the point. If you have
260 some random integer loop counter, it should probably be called "i".
261 Calling it "loop_counter" is non-productive, if there is no chance of it
262 being mis-understood. Similarly, "tmp" can be just about any type of
263 variable that is used to hold a temporary value.
265 If you are afraid to mix up your local variable names, you have another
266 problem, which is called the function-growth-hormone-imbalance syndrome.
267 See chapter 6 (Functions).
272 Please don't use things like "vps_t".
274 It's a _mistake_ to use typedef for structures and pointers. When you see a
278 in the source, what does it mean?
280 In contrast, if it says
282 struct virtual_container *a;
284 you can actually tell what "a" is.
286 Lots of people think that typedefs "help readability". Not so. They are
289 (a) totally opaque objects (where the typedef is actively used to _hide_
292 Example: "pte_t" etc. opaque objects that you can only access using
293 the proper accessor functions.
295 NOTE! Opaqueness and "accessor functions" are not good in themselves.
296 The reason we have them for things like pte_t etc. is that there
297 really is absolutely _zero_ portably accessible information there.
299 (b) Clear integer types, where the abstraction _helps_ avoid confusion
300 whether it is "int" or "long".
302 u8/u16/u32 are perfectly fine typedefs, although they fit into
303 category (d) better than here.
305 NOTE! Again - there needs to be a _reason_ for this. If something is
306 "unsigned long", then there's no reason to do
308 typedef unsigned long myflags_t;
310 but if there is a clear reason for why it under certain circumstances
311 might be an "unsigned int" and under other configurations might be
312 "unsigned long", then by all means go ahead and use a typedef.
314 (c) when you use sparse to literally create a _new_ type for
317 (d) New types which are identical to standard C99 types, in certain
318 exceptional circumstances.
320 Although it would only take a short amount of time for the eyes and
321 brain to become accustomed to the standard types like 'uint32_t',
322 some people object to their use anyway.
324 Therefore, the Linux-specific 'u8/u16/u32/u64' types and their
325 signed equivalents which are identical to standard types are
326 permitted -- although they are not mandatory in new code of your
329 When editing existing code which already uses one or the other set
330 of types, you should conform to the existing choices in that code.
332 (e) Types safe for use in userspace.
334 In certain structures which are visible to userspace, we cannot
335 require C99 types and cannot use the 'u32' form above. Thus, we
336 use __u32 and similar types in all structures which are shared
339 Maybe there are other cases too, but the rule should basically be to NEVER
340 EVER use a typedef unless you can clearly match one of those rules.
342 In general, a pointer, or a struct that has elements that can reasonably
343 be directly accessed should _never_ be a typedef.
348 Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing. They should
349 fit on one or two screenfuls of text (the ISO/ANSI screen size is 80x24,
350 as we all know), and do one thing and do that well.
352 The maximum length of a function is inversely proportional to the
353 complexity and indentation level of that function. So, if you have a
354 conceptually simple function that is just one long (but simple)
355 case-statement, where you have to do lots of small things for a lot of
356 different cases, it's OK to have a longer function.
358 However, if you have a complex function, and you suspect that a
359 less-than-gifted first-year high-school student might not even
360 understand what the function is all about, you should adhere to the
361 maximum limits all the more closely. Use helper functions with
362 descriptive names (you can ask the compiler to in-line them if you think
363 it's performance-critical, and it will probably do a better job of it
364 than you would have done).
366 Another measure of the function is the number of local variables. They
367 shouldn't exceed 5-10, or you're doing something wrong. Re-think the
368 function, and split it into smaller pieces. A human brain can
369 generally easily keep track of about 7 different things, anything more
370 and it gets confused. You know you're brilliant, but maybe you'd like
371 to understand what you did 2 weeks from now.
373 In source files, separate functions with one blank line. If the function is
374 exported, the EXPORT* macro for it should follow immediately after the closing
375 function brace line. E.g.:
377 int system_is_up(void)
379 return system_state == SYSTEM_RUNNING;
381 EXPORT_SYMBOL(system_is_up);
383 In function prototypes, include parameter names with their data types.
384 Although this is not required by the C language, it is preferred in Linux
385 because it is a simple way to add valuable information for the reader.
388 Chapter 7: Centralized exiting of functions
390 Albeit deprecated by some people, the equivalent of the goto statement is
391 used frequently by compilers in form of the unconditional jump instruction.
393 The goto statement comes in handy when a function exits from multiple
394 locations and some common work such as cleanup has to be done.
398 - unconditional statements are easier to understand and follow
400 - errors by not updating individual exit points when making
401 modifications are prevented
402 - saves the compiler work to optimize redundant code away ;)
407 char *buffer = kmalloc(SIZE);
425 Chapter 8: Commenting
427 Comments are good, but there is also a danger of over-commenting. NEVER
428 try to explain HOW your code works in a comment: it's much better to
429 write the code so that the _working_ is obvious, and it's a waste of
430 time to explain badly written code.
432 Generally, you want your comments to tell WHAT your code does, not HOW.
433 Also, try to avoid putting comments inside a function body: if the
434 function is so complex that you need to separately comment parts of it,
435 you should probably go back to chapter 6 for a while. You can make
436 small comments to note or warn about something particularly clever (or
437 ugly), but try to avoid excess. Instead, put the comments at the head
438 of the function, telling people what it does, and possibly WHY it does
441 When commenting the kernel API functions, please use the kernel-doc format.
442 See the files Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt and scripts/kernel-doc
445 Linux style for comments is the C89 "/* ... */" style.
446 Don't use C99-style "// ..." comments.
448 The preferred style for long (multi-line) comments is:
451 * This is the preferred style for multi-line
452 * comments in the Linux kernel source code.
453 * Please use it consistently.
455 * Description: A column of asterisks on the left side,
456 * with beginning and ending almost-blank lines.
459 It's also important to comment data, whether they are basic types or derived
460 types. To this end, use just one data declaration per line (no commas for
461 multiple data declarations). This leaves you room for a small comment on each
462 item, explaining its use.
465 Chapter 9: You've made a mess of it
467 That's OK, we all do. You've probably been told by your long-time Unix
468 user helper that "GNU emacs" automatically formats the C sources for
469 you, and you've noticed that yes, it does do that, but the defaults it
470 uses are less than desirable (in fact, they are worse than random
471 typing - an infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never
472 make a good program).
474 So, you can either get rid of GNU emacs, or change it to use saner
475 values. To do the latter, you can stick the following in your .emacs file:
477 (defun c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only (ignored)
478 "Line up argument lists by tabs, not spaces"
479 (let* ((anchor (c-langelem-pos c-syntactic-element))
480 (column (c-langelem-2nd-pos c-syntactic-element))
481 (offset (- (1+ column) anchor))
482 (steps (floor offset c-basic-offset)))
486 (add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook
491 '("linux" (c-offsets-alist
492 (arglist-cont-nonempty
494 c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only))))))
496 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook
498 (let ((filename (buffer-file-name)))
499 ;; Enable kernel mode for the appropriate files
501 (string-match (expand-file-name "~/src/linux-trees")
503 (setq indent-tabs-mode t)
504 (c-set-style "linux-tabs-only")))))
506 This will make emacs go better with the kernel coding style for C
507 files below ~/src/linux-trees.
509 But even if you fail in getting emacs to do sane formatting, not
510 everything is lost: use "indent".
512 Now, again, GNU indent has the same brain-dead settings that GNU emacs
513 has, which is why you need to give it a few command line options.
514 However, that's not too bad, because even the makers of GNU indent
515 recognize the authority of K&R (the GNU people aren't evil, they are
516 just severely misguided in this matter), so you just give indent the
517 options "-kr -i8" (stands for "K&R, 8 character indents"), or use
518 "scripts/Lindent", which indents in the latest style.
520 "indent" has a lot of options, and especially when it comes to comment
521 re-formatting you may want to take a look at the man page. But
522 remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming.
525 Chapter 10: Kconfig configuration files
527 For all of the Kconfig* configuration files throughout the source tree,
528 the indentation is somewhat different. Lines under a "config" definition
529 are indented with one tab, while help text is indented an additional two
533 bool "Auditing support"
536 Enable auditing infrastructure that can be used with another
537 kernel subsystem, such as SELinux (which requires this for
538 logging of avc messages output). Does not do system-call
539 auditing without CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL.
541 Features that might still be considered unstable should be defined as
542 dependent on "EXPERIMENTAL":
545 depends on EXPERIMENTAL && !ARCH_USES_SLAB_PAGE_STRUCT
546 bool "SLUB (Unqueued Allocator)"
549 while seriously dangerous features (such as write support for certain
550 filesystems) should advertise this prominently in their prompt string:
553 bool "ADFS write support (DANGEROUS)"
557 For full documentation on the configuration files, see the file
558 Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt.
561 Chapter 11: Data structures
563 Data structures that have visibility outside the single-threaded
564 environment they are created and destroyed in should always have
565 reference counts. In the kernel, garbage collection doesn't exist (and
566 outside the kernel garbage collection is slow and inefficient), which
567 means that you absolutely _have_ to reference count all your uses.
569 Reference counting means that you can avoid locking, and allows multiple
570 users to have access to the data structure in parallel - and not having
571 to worry about the structure suddenly going away from under them just
572 because they slept or did something else for a while.
574 Note that locking is _not_ a replacement for reference counting.
575 Locking is used to keep data structures coherent, while reference
576 counting is a memory management technique. Usually both are needed, and
577 they are not to be confused with each other.
579 Many data structures can indeed have two levels of reference counting,
580 when there are users of different "classes". The subclass count counts
581 the number of subclass users, and decrements the global count just once
582 when the subclass count goes to zero.
584 Examples of this kind of "multi-level-reference-counting" can be found in
585 memory management ("struct mm_struct": mm_users and mm_count), and in
586 filesystem code ("struct super_block": s_count and s_active).
588 Remember: if another thread can find your data structure, and you don't
589 have a reference count on it, you almost certainly have a bug.
592 Chapter 12: Macros, Enums and RTL
594 Names of macros defining constants and labels in enums are capitalized.
596 #define CONSTANT 0x12345
598 Enums are preferred when defining several related constants.
600 CAPITALIZED macro names are appreciated but macros resembling functions
601 may be named in lower case.
603 Generally, inline functions are preferable to macros resembling functions.
605 Macros with multiple statements should be enclosed in a do - while block:
607 #define macrofun(a, b, c) \
613 Things to avoid when using macros:
615 1) macros that affect control flow:
623 is a _very_ bad idea. It looks like a function call but exits the "calling"
624 function; don't break the internal parsers of those who will read the code.
626 2) macros that depend on having a local variable with a magic name:
628 #define FOO(val) bar(index, val)
630 might look like a good thing, but it's confusing as hell when one reads the
631 code and it's prone to breakage from seemingly innocent changes.
633 3) macros with arguments that are used as l-values: FOO(x) = y; will
634 bite you if somebody e.g. turns FOO into an inline function.
636 4) forgetting about precedence: macros defining constants using expressions
637 must enclose the expression in parentheses. Beware of similar issues with
638 macros using parameters.
640 #define CONSTANT 0x4000
641 #define CONSTEXP (CONSTANT | 3)
643 The cpp manual deals with macros exhaustively. The gcc internals manual also
644 covers RTL which is used frequently with assembly language in the kernel.
647 Chapter 13: Printing kernel messages
649 Kernel developers like to be seen as literate. Do mind the spelling
650 of kernel messages to make a good impression. Do not use crippled
651 words like "dont"; use "do not" or "don't" instead. Make the messages
652 concise, clear, and unambiguous.
654 Kernel messages do not have to be terminated with a period.
656 Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided.
658 There are a number of driver model diagnostic macros in <linux/device.h>
659 which you should use to make sure messages are matched to the right device
660 and driver, and are tagged with the right level: dev_err(), dev_warn(),
661 dev_info(), and so forth. For messages that aren't associated with a
662 particular device, <linux/kernel.h> defines pr_debug() and pr_info().
664 Coming up with good debugging messages can be quite a challenge; and once
665 you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting. Such
666 messages should be compiled out when the DEBUG symbol is not defined (that
667 is, by default they are not included). When you use dev_dbg() or pr_debug(),
668 that's automatic. Many subsystems have Kconfig options to turn on -DDEBUG.
669 A related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to the
670 ones already enabled by DEBUG.
673 Chapter 14: Allocating memory
675 The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators:
676 kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc(). Please refer to the API
677 documentation for further information about them.
679 The preferred form for passing a size of a struct is the following:
681 p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), ...);
683 The alternative form where struct name is spelled out hurts readability and
684 introduces an opportunity for a bug when the pointer variable type is changed
685 but the corresponding sizeof that is passed to a memory allocator is not.
687 Casting the return value which is a void pointer is redundant. The conversion
688 from void pointer to any other pointer type is guaranteed by the C programming
692 Chapter 15: The inline disease
694 There appears to be a common misperception that gcc has a magic "make me
695 faster" speedup option called "inline". While the use of inlines can be
696 appropriate (for example as a means of replacing macros, see Chapter 12), it
697 very often is not. Abundant use of the inline keyword leads to a much bigger
698 kernel, which in turn slows the system as a whole down, due to a bigger
699 icache footprint for the CPU and simply because there is less memory
700 available for the pagecache. Just think about it; a pagecache miss causes a
701 disk seek, which easily takes 5 milliseconds. There are a LOT of cpu cycles
702 that can go into these 5 milliseconds.
704 A reasonable rule of thumb is to not put inline at functions that have more
705 than 3 lines of code in them. An exception to this rule are the cases where
706 a parameter is known to be a compiletime constant, and as a result of this
707 constantness you *know* the compiler will be able to optimize most of your
708 function away at compile time. For a good example of this later case, see
709 the kmalloc() inline function.
711 Often people argue that adding inline to functions that are static and used
712 only once is always a win since there is no space tradeoff. While this is
713 technically correct, gcc is capable of inlining these automatically without
714 help, and the maintenance issue of removing the inline when a second user
715 appears outweighs the potential value of the hint that tells gcc to do
716 something it would have done anyway.
719 Chapter 16: Function return values and names
721 Functions can return values of many different kinds, and one of the
722 most common is a value indicating whether the function succeeded or
723 failed. Such a value can be represented as an error-code integer
724 (-Exxx = failure, 0 = success) or a "succeeded" boolean (0 = failure,
727 Mixing up these two sorts of representations is a fertile source of
728 difficult-to-find bugs. If the C language included a strong distinction
729 between integers and booleans then the compiler would find these mistakes
730 for us... but it doesn't. To help prevent such bugs, always follow this
733 If the name of a function is an action or an imperative command,
734 the function should return an error-code integer. If the name
735 is a predicate, the function should return a "succeeded" boolean.
737 For example, "add work" is a command, and the add_work() function returns 0
738 for success or -EBUSY for failure. In the same way, "PCI device present" is
739 a predicate, and the pci_dev_present() function returns 1 if it succeeds in
740 finding a matching device or 0 if it doesn't.
742 All EXPORTed functions must respect this convention, and so should all
743 public functions. Private (static) functions need not, but it is
744 recommended that they do.
746 Functions whose return value is the actual result of a computation, rather
747 than an indication of whether the computation succeeded, are not subject to
748 this rule. Generally they indicate failure by returning some out-of-range
749 result. Typical examples would be functions that return pointers; they use
750 NULL or the ERR_PTR mechanism to report failure.
753 Chapter 17: Don't re-invent the kernel macros
755 The header file include/linux/kernel.h contains a number of macros that
756 you should use, rather than explicitly coding some variant of them yourself.
757 For example, if you need to calculate the length of an array, take advantage
760 #define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof((x)[0]))
762 Similarly, if you need to calculate the size of some structure member, use
764 #define FIELD_SIZEOF(t, f) (sizeof(((t*)0)->f))
766 There are also min() and max() macros that do strict type checking if you
767 need them. Feel free to peruse that header file to see what else is already
768 defined that you shouldn't reproduce in your code.
771 Chapter 18: Editor modelines and other cruft
773 Some editors can interpret configuration information embedded in source files,
774 indicated with special markers. For example, emacs interprets lines marked
783 compile-command: "gcc -DMAGIC_DEBUG_FLAG foo.c"
787 Vim interprets markers that look like this:
789 /* vim:set sw=8 noet */
791 Do not include any of these in source files. People have their own personal
792 editor configurations, and your source files should not override them. This
793 includes markers for indentation and mode configuration. People may use their
794 own custom mode, or may have some other magic method for making indentation
799 Appendix I: References
801 The C Programming Language, Second Edition
802 by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
803 Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988.
804 ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hardback).
805 URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/
807 The Practice of Programming
808 by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike.
809 Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1999.
811 URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/
813 GNU manuals - where in compliance with K&R and this text - for cpp, gcc,
814 gcc internals and indent, all available from http://www.gnu.org/manual/
816 WG14 is the international standardization working group for the programming
817 language C, URL: http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG14/
819 Kernel CodingStyle, by greg@kroah.com at OLS 2002:
820 http://www.kroah.com/linux/talks/ols_2002_kernel_codingstyle_talk/html/
823 Last updated on 2007-July-13.