Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 02:04:26 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au> Cc: Garance A Drosihn <drosih@rpi.edu>, Bill Fenner <fenner@research.att.com>, mike@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-standards@bostonradio.org Subject: Re: strerror_r() implementation Message-ID: <3C10861A.93F7D090@softweyr.com> References: <20011206183558.N14527-100000@gamplex.bde.org>
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Wes Peters ranted:
>
> Bruce Evans wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 4 Dec 2001, Wes Peters wrote:
> >
> > > Bruce Evans wrote:
> > > > Individual rules have precedence over general ones.
> > >
> > > That would be fine, if there were indeed an individual rule. Please feel
> > > free to commit one at any time.
> >
> > The example (of "return (eight)") implicitly gives a rule.
>
> The example of "return (eight)" implicitly says nothing. It's two
> tiny characters buried in the middle of a lot of text that is
> EXPLICITLY pointing out several unrelated rules. Make it an EXPLICIT
> rule in style(9) or stop beating people up about it. You're being an
> ass about this.
This was unwarranted and impolite. Please accept my apologies, and allow
me to clarify my position on style(9).
FreeBSD has often been accused of being clannish and of having undocumented
and imprecise rules that are seen more as hazing than as constructive ways
to move the project forward. One of the many examples cited have been code
reviews based on rules that are not documented anywhere; programmers are
told to "read the code" and "make it look like KNF" rather than given
guidelines to code by.
Clarifying style(9) to the point where the rules are simply stated, obvious
to all readers, and do not rely on outside sources will help FreeBSD in many
ways. It will help improve the consistency of the code, it will help us
recruit and retain fine new programmers, and it will make us look less
capricious to newcomers and outsiders.
Since much of our existing knowlege about what style(9) should be is locked
within your head, you are one of the few who can really accomplish this
work. Your reviews are valuable to FreeBSD and to all of the contributors
to FreeBSD because of your depth and breadth of knowlege about FreeBSD, the
various standards efforts we attempt to support, and the world of UNIX and
C in general. Please help us by extending this knowlege into further
development and clarification of style(9) into a resoure for all programmers
looking into FreeBSD.
If you feel that crafting the actual explanations is something you might
wish to have help with, Mike has expressed an interest in this area. I too
am interested and willing to help. While KNF is not my preferred programming
style, I am willing to help because I think any documented coding style for
a project is better than none at all, and I am willing to conform to the
group style as far as it is clearly and unambiguously documented.
Again, Bruce, please accept my apologies for the above-quoted message.
I should not respond to reviews late at night when I am not prepared to
make clear responses, the fault is all mine. Thank you for your time and
your help.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
wes@softweyr.com http://softweyr.com/
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