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To: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
cc: Robert Nordier <rnordier@iafrica.com>, coredump@nervosa.com,
        proff@suburbia.net, chat@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Indentation styles 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 29 May 1996 11:37:03 PDT."
             <199605291837.LAA10835@lestat.nas.nasa.gov> 
From: David Greenman <davidg@Root.COM>
Reply-To: davidg@Root.COM
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 12:34:12 -0700
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>On Wed, 29 May 1996 20:22:41 +0200 (SAT) 
> Robert Nordier <rnordier@iafrica.com> wrote:
>
>[ Keep me on the CC; I don't read "chat" ... --thorpej ]
>
> > Companies have coding style standards largely because they pay people to
> > put up with them.  _Maybe_ a free OS project shouldn't have the same
> > because it doesn't necessarily do to treat volunteers like the hired help.
>
>I don't look at is as a matter of "putting up with them".  I, personally, 
>am _very_ glad that code at least _looks_ consistent.  That way, you only 
>have to learn how to decipher one "different" style, rather than N.  And, 
>if the mandated style just happens to be neat and tidy (such as KNF), 
>then you have some added polish as well.
>
> > I agree standards are a Good Thing, but possibly FreeBSD should rather
> > promote stylistic diversity in the virtual workplace. :)   Mostly it should
> > depend on how everyone feels....
>
>See above; "stylistic diversity", in my opinion, is an obstacle to a 
>well-designed system.

   For what it's worth, I agree with both of you. :-) The general rule we've
used in FreeBSD is: KNF strongly (not strictly) enforced in machine-independant
portions of the kernel, and "encouraged" in the machine-dependant portion. We
generally don't want to piss off our contributors, but at the same time we
want to maintain as much consistency as possible. This isn't a perfect
solution, but I believe it's a good compromise.

-DG

David Greenman
Core-team/Principal Architect, The FreeBSD Project