1 The coding conventions of netyack match with the Linux kernel style
2 guidelines. So here we go with a copy of linux-xxx/Documentation/CodingStyle.
6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 Linux kernel coding style
10 This is a short document describing the preferred coding style for the
11 linux kernel. Coding style is very personal, and I won't _force_ my
12 views on anybody, but this is what goes for anything that I have to be
13 able to maintain, and I'd prefer it for most other things too. Please
14 at least consider the points made here.
16 First off, I'd suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards,
17 and NOT read it. Burn them, it's a great symbolic gesture.
22 Chapter 1: Indentation
24 Tabs are 8 characters, and thus indentations are also 8 characters.
25 There are heretic movements that try to make indentations 4 (or even 2!)
26 characters deep, and that is akin to trying to define the value of PI to
29 Rationale: The whole idea behind indentation is to clearly define where
30 a block of control starts and ends. Especially when you've been looking
31 at your screen for 20 straight hours, you'll find it a lot easier to see
32 how the indentation works if you have large indentations.
34 Now, some people will claim that having 8-character indentations makes
35 the code move too far to the right, and makes it hard to read on a
36 80-character terminal screen. The answer to that is that if you need
37 more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix
40 In short, 8-char indents make things easier to read, and have the added
41 benefit of warning you when you're nesting your functions too deep.
44 The preferred way to ease multiple indentation levels in a switch statement is
45 to align the "switch" and its subordinate "case" labels in the same column
46 instead of "double-indenting" the "case" labels. E.g.:
66 Don't put multiple statements on a single line unless you have
69 if (condition) do_this;
70 do_something_everytime;
72 Don't put multiple assignments on a single line either. Kernel coding style
73 is super simple. Avoid tricky expressions.
75 Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never
76 used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken.
78 Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines.
81 Chapter 2: Breaking long lines and strings
83 Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly
86 The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a strongly
89 Statements longer than 80 columns will be broken into sensible chunks.
90 Descendants are always substantially shorter than the parent and are placed
91 substantially to the right. The same applies to function headers with a long
92 argument list. Long strings are as well broken into shorter strings. The
93 only exception to this is where exceeding 80 columns significantly increases
94 readability and does not hide information.
96 void fun(int a, int b, int c)
99 printk(KERN_WARNING "Warning this is a long printk with "
100 "3 parameters a: %u b: %u "
101 "c: %u \n", a, b, c);
106 Chapter 3: Placing Braces and Spaces
108 The other issue that always comes up in C styling is the placement of
109 braces. Unlike the indent size, there are few technical reasons to
110 choose one placement strategy over the other, but the preferred way, as
111 shown to us by the prophets Kernighan and Ritchie, is to put the opening
112 brace last on the line, and put the closing brace first, thusly:
118 This applies to all non-function statement blocks (if, switch, for,
132 However, there is one special case, namely functions: they have the
133 opening brace at the beginning of the next line, thus:
140 Heretic people all over the world have claimed that this inconsistency
141 is ... well ... inconsistent, but all right-thinking people know that
142 (a) K&R are _right_ and (b) K&R are right. Besides, functions are
143 special anyway (you can't nest them in C).
145 Note that the closing brace is empty on a line of its own, _except_ in
146 the cases where it is followed by a continuation of the same statement,
147 ie a "while" in a do-statement or an "else" in an if-statement, like
166 Also, note that this brace-placement also minimizes the number of empty
167 (or almost empty) lines, without any loss of readability. Thus, as the
168 supply of new-lines on your screen is not a renewable resource (think
169 25-line terminal screens here), you have more empty lines to put
172 Do not unnecessarily use braces where a single statement will do.
177 This does not apply if one branch of a conditional statement is a single
178 statement. Use braces in both branches.
189 Linux kernel style for use of spaces depends (mostly) on
190 function-versus-keyword usage. Use a space after (most) keywords. The
191 notable exceptions are sizeof, typeof, alignof, and __attribute__, which look
192 somewhat like functions (and are usually used with parentheses in Linux,
193 although they are not required in the language, as in: "sizeof info" after
194 "struct fileinfo info;" is declared).
196 So use a space after these keywords:
197 if, switch, case, for, do, while
198 but not with sizeof, typeof, alignof, or __attribute__. E.g.,
199 s = sizeof(struct file);
201 Do not add spaces around (inside) parenthesized expressions. This example is
204 s = sizeof( struct file );
206 When declaring pointer data or a function that returns a pointer type, the
207 preferred use of '*' is adjacent to the data name or function name and not
208 adjacent to the type name. Examples:
211 unsigned long long memparse(char *ptr, char **retptr);
212 char *match_strdup(substring_t *s);
214 Use one space around (on each side of) most binary and ternary operators,
215 such as any of these:
217 = + - < > * / % | & ^ <= >= == != ? :
219 but no space after unary operators:
220 & * + - ~ ! sizeof typeof alignof __attribute__ defined
222 no space before the postfix increment & decrement unary operators:
225 no space after the prefix increment & decrement unary operators:
228 and no space around the '.' and "->" structure member operators.
230 Do not leave trailing whitespace at the ends of lines. Some editors with
231 "smart" indentation will insert whitespace at the beginning of new lines as
232 appropriate, so you can start typing the next line of code right away.
233 However, some such editors do not remove the whitespace if you end up not
234 putting a line of code there, such as if you leave a blank line. As a result,
235 you end up with lines containing trailing whitespace.
237 Git will warn you about patches that introduce trailing whitespace, and can
238 optionally strip the trailing whitespace for you; however, if applying a series
239 of patches, this may make later patches in the series fail by changing their
245 C is a Spartan language, and so should your naming be. Unlike Modula-2
246 and Pascal programmers, C programmers do not use cute names like
247 ThisVariableIsATemporaryCounter. A C programmer would call that
248 variable "tmp", which is much easier to write, and not the least more
249 difficult to understand.
251 HOWEVER, while mixed-case names are frowned upon, descriptive names for
252 global variables are a must. To call a global function "foo" is a
255 GLOBAL variables (to be used only if you _really_ need them) need to
256 have descriptive names, as do global functions. If you have a function
257 that counts the number of active users, you should call that
258 "count_active_users()" or similar, you should _not_ call it "cntusr()".
260 Encoding the type of a function into the name (so-called Hungarian
261 notation) is brain damaged - the compiler knows the types anyway and can
262 check those, and it only confuses the programmer. No wonder MicroSoft
263 makes buggy programs.
265 LOCAL variable names should be short, and to the point. If you have
266 some random integer loop counter, it should probably be called "i".
267 Calling it "loop_counter" is non-productive, if there is no chance of it
268 being mis-understood. Similarly, "tmp" can be just about any type of
269 variable that is used to hold a temporary value.
271 If you are afraid to mix up your local variable names, you have another
272 problem, which is called the function-growth-hormone-imbalance syndrome.
273 See chapter 6 (Functions).
278 Please don't use things like "vps_t".
280 It's a _mistake_ to use typedef for structures and pointers. When you see a
284 in the source, what does it mean?
286 In contrast, if it says
288 struct virtual_container *a;
290 you can actually tell what "a" is.
292 Lots of people think that typedefs "help readability". Not so. They are
295 (a) totally opaque objects (where the typedef is actively used to _hide_
298 Example: "pte_t" etc. opaque objects that you can only access using
299 the proper accessor functions.
301 NOTE! Opaqueness and "accessor functions" are not good in themselves.
302 The reason we have them for things like pte_t etc. is that there
303 really is absolutely _zero_ portably accessible information there.
305 (b) Clear integer types, where the abstraction _helps_ avoid confusion
306 whether it is "int" or "long".
308 u8/u16/u32 are perfectly fine typedefs, although they fit into
309 category (d) better than here.
311 NOTE! Again - there needs to be a _reason_ for this. If something is
312 "unsigned long", then there's no reason to do
314 typedef unsigned long myflags_t;
316 but if there is a clear reason for why it under certain circumstances
317 might be an "unsigned int" and under other configurations might be
318 "unsigned long", then by all means go ahead and use a typedef.
320 (c) when you use sparse to literally create a _new_ type for
323 (d) New types which are identical to standard C99 types, in certain
324 exceptional circumstances.
326 Although it would only take a short amount of time for the eyes and
327 brain to become accustomed to the standard types like 'uint32_t',
328 some people object to their use anyway.
330 Therefore, the Linux-specific 'u8/u16/u32/u64' types and their
331 signed equivalents which are identical to standard types are
332 permitted -- although they are not mandatory in new code of your
335 When editing existing code which already uses one or the other set
336 of types, you should conform to the existing choices in that code.
338 (e) Types safe for use in userspace.
340 In certain structures which are visible to userspace, we cannot
341 require C99 types and cannot use the 'u32' form above. Thus, we
342 use __u32 and similar types in all structures which are shared
345 Maybe there are other cases too, but the rule should basically be to NEVER
346 EVER use a typedef unless you can clearly match one of those rules.
348 In general, a pointer, or a struct that has elements that can reasonably
349 be directly accessed should _never_ be a typedef.
354 Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing. They should
355 fit on one or two screenfuls of text (the ISO/ANSI screen size is 80x24,
356 as we all know), and do one thing and do that well.
358 The maximum length of a function is inversely proportional to the
359 complexity and indentation level of that function. So, if you have a
360 conceptually simple function that is just one long (but simple)
361 case-statement, where you have to do lots of small things for a lot of
362 different cases, it's OK to have a longer function.
364 However, if you have a complex function, and you suspect that a
365 less-than-gifted first-year high-school student might not even
366 understand what the function is all about, you should adhere to the
367 maximum limits all the more closely. Use helper functions with
368 descriptive names (you can ask the compiler to in-line them if you think
369 it's performance-critical, and it will probably do a better job of it
370 than you would have done).
372 Another measure of the function is the number of local variables. They
373 shouldn't exceed 5-10, or you're doing something wrong. Re-think the
374 function, and split it into smaller pieces. A human brain can
375 generally easily keep track of about 7 different things, anything more
376 and it gets confused. You know you're brilliant, but maybe you'd like
377 to understand what you did 2 weeks from now.
379 In source files, separate functions with one blank line. If the function is
380 exported, the EXPORT* macro for it should follow immediately after the closing
381 function brace line. E.g.:
383 int system_is_up(void)
385 return system_state == SYSTEM_RUNNING;
387 EXPORT_SYMBOL(system_is_up);
389 In function prototypes, include parameter names with their data types.
390 Although this is not required by the C language, it is preferred in Linux
391 because it is a simple way to add valuable information for the reader.
394 Chapter 7: Centralized exiting of functions
396 Albeit deprecated by some people, the equivalent of the goto statement is
397 used frequently by compilers in form of the unconditional jump instruction.
399 The goto statement comes in handy when a function exits from multiple
400 locations and some common work such as cleanup has to be done.
404 - unconditional statements are easier to understand and follow
406 - errors by not updating individual exit points when making
407 modifications are prevented
408 - saves the compiler work to optimize redundant code away ;)
413 char *buffer = kmalloc(SIZE);
431 Chapter 8: Commenting
433 Comments are good, but there is also a danger of over-commenting. NEVER
434 try to explain HOW your code works in a comment: it's much better to
435 write the code so that the _working_ is obvious, and it's a waste of
436 time to explain badly written code.
438 Generally, you want your comments to tell WHAT your code does, not HOW.
439 Also, try to avoid putting comments inside a function body: if the
440 function is so complex that you need to separately comment parts of it,
441 you should probably go back to chapter 6 for a while. You can make
442 small comments to note or warn about something particularly clever (or
443 ugly), but try to avoid excess. Instead, put the comments at the head
444 of the function, telling people what it does, and possibly WHY it does
447 When commenting the kernel API functions, please use the kernel-doc format.
448 See the files Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt and scripts/kernel-doc
451 Linux style for comments is the C89 "/* ... */" style.
452 Don't use C99-style "// ..." comments.
454 The preferred style for long (multi-line) comments is:
457 * This is the preferred style for multi-line
458 * comments in the Linux kernel source code.
459 * Please use it consistently.
461 * Description: A column of asterisks on the left side,
462 * with beginning and ending almost-blank lines.
465 It's also important to comment data, whether they are basic types or derived
466 types. To this end, use just one data declaration per line (no commas for
467 multiple data declarations). This leaves you room for a small comment on each
468 item, explaining its use.
471 Chapter 9: You've made a mess of it
473 That's OK, we all do. You've probably been told by your long-time Unix
474 user helper that "GNU emacs" automatically formats the C sources for
475 you, and you've noticed that yes, it does do that, but the defaults it
476 uses are less than desirable (in fact, they are worse than random
477 typing - an infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never
478 make a good program).
480 So, you can either get rid of GNU emacs, or change it to use saner
481 values. To do the latter, you can stick the following in your .emacs file:
483 (defun c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only (ignored)
484 "Line up argument lists by tabs, not spaces"
485 (let* ((anchor (c-langelem-pos c-syntactic-element))
486 (column (c-langelem-2nd-pos c-syntactic-element))
487 (offset (- (1+ column) anchor))
488 (steps (floor offset c-basic-offset)))
492 (add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook
497 '("linux" (c-offsets-alist
498 (arglist-cont-nonempty
500 c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only))))))
502 (add-hook 'c-mode-hook
504 (let ((filename (buffer-file-name)))
505 ;; Enable kernel mode for the appropriate files
507 (string-match (expand-file-name "~/src/linux-trees")
509 (setq indent-tabs-mode t)
510 (c-set-style "linux-tabs-only")))))
512 This will make emacs go better with the kernel coding style for C
513 files below ~/src/linux-trees.
515 But even if you fail in getting emacs to do sane formatting, not
516 everything is lost: use "indent".
518 Now, again, GNU indent has the same brain-dead settings that GNU emacs
519 has, which is why you need to give it a few command line options.
520 However, that's not too bad, because even the makers of GNU indent
521 recognize the authority of K&R (the GNU people aren't evil, they are
522 just severely misguided in this matter), so you just give indent the
523 options "-kr -i8" (stands for "K&R, 8 character indents"), or use
524 "scripts/Lindent", which indents in the latest style.
526 "indent" has a lot of options, and especially when it comes to comment
527 re-formatting you may want to take a look at the man page. But
528 remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming.
531 Chapter 10: Kconfig configuration files
533 For all of the Kconfig* configuration files throughout the source tree,
534 the indentation is somewhat different. Lines under a "config" definition
535 are indented with one tab, while help text is indented an additional two
539 bool "Auditing support"
542 Enable auditing infrastructure that can be used with another
543 kernel subsystem, such as SELinux (which requires this for
544 logging of avc messages output). Does not do system-call
545 auditing without CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL.
547 Features that might still be considered unstable should be defined as
548 dependent on "EXPERIMENTAL":
551 depends on EXPERIMENTAL && !ARCH_USES_SLAB_PAGE_STRUCT
552 bool "SLUB (Unqueued Allocator)"
555 while seriously dangerous features (such as write support for certain
556 filesystems) should advertise this prominently in their prompt string:
559 bool "ADFS write support (DANGEROUS)"
563 For full documentation on the configuration files, see the file
564 Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt.
567 Chapter 11: Data structures
569 Data structures that have visibility outside the single-threaded
570 environment they are created and destroyed in should always have
571 reference counts. In the kernel, garbage collection doesn't exist (and
572 outside the kernel garbage collection is slow and inefficient), which
573 means that you absolutely _have_ to reference count all your uses.
575 Reference counting means that you can avoid locking, and allows multiple
576 users to have access to the data structure in parallel - and not having
577 to worry about the structure suddenly going away from under them just
578 because they slept or did something else for a while.
580 Note that locking is _not_ a replacement for reference counting.
581 Locking is used to keep data structures coherent, while reference
582 counting is a memory management technique. Usually both are needed, and
583 they are not to be confused with each other.
585 Many data structures can indeed have two levels of reference counting,
586 when there are users of different "classes". The subclass count counts
587 the number of subclass users, and decrements the global count just once
588 when the subclass count goes to zero.
590 Examples of this kind of "multi-level-reference-counting" can be found in
591 memory management ("struct mm_struct": mm_users and mm_count), and in
592 filesystem code ("struct super_block": s_count and s_active).
594 Remember: if another thread can find your data structure, and you don't
595 have a reference count on it, you almost certainly have a bug.
598 Chapter 12: Macros, Enums and RTL
600 Names of macros defining constants and labels in enums are capitalized.
602 #define CONSTANT 0x12345
604 Enums are preferred when defining several related constants.
606 CAPITALIZED macro names are appreciated but macros resembling functions
607 may be named in lower case.
609 Generally, inline functions are preferable to macros resembling functions.
611 Macros with multiple statements should be enclosed in a do - while block:
613 #define macrofun(a, b, c) \
619 Things to avoid when using macros:
621 1) macros that affect control flow:
629 is a _very_ bad idea. It looks like a function call but exits the "calling"
630 function; don't break the internal parsers of those who will read the code.
632 2) macros that depend on having a local variable with a magic name:
634 #define FOO(val) bar(index, val)
636 might look like a good thing, but it's confusing as hell when one reads the
637 code and it's prone to breakage from seemingly innocent changes.
639 3) macros with arguments that are used as l-values: FOO(x) = y; will
640 bite you if somebody e.g. turns FOO into an inline function.
642 4) forgetting about precedence: macros defining constants using expressions
643 must enclose the expression in parentheses. Beware of similar issues with
644 macros using parameters.
646 #define CONSTANT 0x4000
647 #define CONSTEXP (CONSTANT | 3)
649 The cpp manual deals with macros exhaustively. The gcc internals manual also
650 covers RTL which is used frequently with assembly language in the kernel.
653 Chapter 13: Printing kernel messages
655 Kernel developers like to be seen as literate. Do mind the spelling
656 of kernel messages to make a good impression. Do not use crippled
657 words like "dont"; use "do not" or "don't" instead. Make the messages
658 concise, clear, and unambiguous.
660 Kernel messages do not have to be terminated with a period.
662 Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided.
664 There are a number of driver model diagnostic macros in <linux/device.h>
665 which you should use to make sure messages are matched to the right device
666 and driver, and are tagged with the right level: dev_err(), dev_warn(),
667 dev_info(), and so forth. For messages that aren't associated with a
668 particular device, <linux/kernel.h> defines pr_debug() and pr_info().
670 Coming up with good debugging messages can be quite a challenge; and once
671 you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting. Such
672 messages should be compiled out when the DEBUG symbol is not defined (that
673 is, by default they are not included). When you use dev_dbg() or pr_debug(),
674 that's automatic. Many subsystems have Kconfig options to turn on -DDEBUG.
675 A related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to the
676 ones already enabled by DEBUG.
679 Chapter 14: Allocating memory
681 The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators:
682 kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc(). Please refer to the API
683 documentation for further information about them.
685 The preferred form for passing a size of a struct is the following:
687 p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), ...);
689 The alternative form where struct name is spelled out hurts readability and
690 introduces an opportunity for a bug when the pointer variable type is changed
691 but the corresponding sizeof that is passed to a memory allocator is not.
693 Casting the return value which is a void pointer is redundant. The conversion
694 from void pointer to any other pointer type is guaranteed by the C programming
698 Chapter 15: The inline disease
700 There appears to be a common misperception that gcc has a magic "make me
701 faster" speedup option called "inline". While the use of inlines can be
702 appropriate (for example as a means of replacing macros, see Chapter 12), it
703 very often is not. Abundant use of the inline keyword leads to a much bigger
704 kernel, which in turn slows the system as a whole down, due to a bigger
705 icache footprint for the CPU and simply because there is less memory
706 available for the pagecache. Just think about it; a pagecache miss causes a
707 disk seek, which easily takes 5 miliseconds. There are a LOT of cpu cycles
708 that can go into these 5 miliseconds.
710 A reasonable rule of thumb is to not put inline at functions that have more
711 than 3 lines of code in them. An exception to this rule are the cases where
712 a parameter is known to be a compiletime constant, and as a result of this
713 constantness you *know* the compiler will be able to optimize most of your
714 function away at compile time. For a good example of this later case, see
715 the kmalloc() inline function.
717 Often people argue that adding inline to functions that are static and used
718 only once is always a win since there is no space tradeoff. While this is
719 technically correct, gcc is capable of inlining these automatically without
720 help, and the maintenance issue of removing the inline when a second user
721 appears outweighs the potential value of the hint that tells gcc to do
722 something it would have done anyway.
725 Chapter 16: Function return values and names
727 Functions can return values of many different kinds, and one of the
728 most common is a value indicating whether the function succeeded or
729 failed. Such a value can be represented as an error-code integer
730 (-Exxx = failure, 0 = success) or a "succeeded" boolean (0 = failure,
733 Mixing up these two sorts of representations is a fertile source of
734 difficult-to-find bugs. If the C language included a strong distinction
735 between integers and booleans then the compiler would find these mistakes
736 for us... but it doesn't. To help prevent such bugs, always follow this
739 If the name of a function is an action or an imperative command,
740 the function should return an error-code integer. If the name
741 is a predicate, the function should return a "succeeded" boolean.
743 For example, "add work" is a command, and the add_work() function returns 0
744 for success or -EBUSY for failure. In the same way, "PCI device present" is
745 a predicate, and the pci_dev_present() function returns 1 if it succeeds in
746 finding a matching device or 0 if it doesn't.
748 All EXPORTed functions must respect this convention, and so should all
749 public functions. Private (static) functions need not, but it is
750 recommended that they do.
752 Functions whose return value is the actual result of a computation, rather
753 than an indication of whether the computation succeeded, are not subject to
754 this rule. Generally they indicate failure by returning some out-of-range
755 result. Typical examples would be functions that return pointers; they use
756 NULL or the ERR_PTR mechanism to report failure.
759 Chapter 17: Don't re-invent the kernel macros
761 The header file include/linux/kernel.h contains a number of macros that
762 you should use, rather than explicitly coding some variant of them yourself.
763 For example, if you need to calculate the length of an array, take advantage
766 #define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof((x)[0]))
768 Similarly, if you need to calculate the size of some structure member, use
770 #define FIELD_SIZEOF(t, f) (sizeof(((t*)0)->f))
772 There are also min() and max() macros that do strict type checking if you
773 need them. Feel free to peruse that header file to see what else is already
774 defined that you shouldn't reproduce in your code.
777 Chapter 18: Editor modelines and other cruft
779 Some editors can interpret configuration information embedded in source files,
780 indicated with special markers. For example, emacs interprets lines marked
789 compile-command: "gcc -DMAGIC_DEBUG_FLAG foo.c"
793 Vim interprets markers that look like this:
795 /* vim:set sw=8 noet */
797 Do not include any of these in source files. People have their own personal
798 editor configurations, and your source files should not override them. This
799 includes markers for indentation and mode configuration. People may use their
800 own custom mode, or may have some other magic method for making indentation
805 Appendix I: References
807 The C Programming Language, Second Edition
808 by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
809 Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988.
810 ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hardback).
811 URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/
813 The Practice of Programming
814 by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike.
815 Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1999.
817 URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/
819 GNU manuals - where in compliance with K&R and this text - for cpp, gcc,
820 gcc internals and indent, all available from http://www.gnu.org/manual/
822 WG14 is the international standardization working group for the programming
823 language C, URL: http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG14/
825 Kernel CodingStyle, by greg@kroah.com at OLS 2002:
826 http://www.kroah.com/linux/talks/ols_2002_kernel_codingstyle_talk/html/
829 Last updated on 2007-July-13.