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2
                Linux kernel coding style
3
 
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.
9
 
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.
12
 
13
Anyway, here goes:
14
 
15
 
16
                Chapter 1: Indentation
17
 
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
21
be 3.
22
 
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.
27
 
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
32
your program.
33
 
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.
36
Heed that warning.
37
 
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.:
41
 
42
        switch (suffix) {
43
        case 'G':
44
        case 'g':
45
                mem <<= 30;
46
                break;
47
        case 'M':
48
        case 'm':
49
                mem <<= 20;
50
                break;
51
        case 'K':
52
        case 'k':
53
                mem <<= 10;
54
                /* fall through */
55
        default:
56
                break;
57
        }
58
 
59
 
60
Don't put multiple statements on a single line unless you have
61
something to hide:
62
 
63
        if (condition) do_this;
64
          do_something_everytime;
65
 
66
Don't put multiple assignments on a single line either.  Kernel coding style
67
is super simple.  Avoid tricky expressions.
68
 
69
Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never
70
used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken.
71
 
72
Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines.
73
 
74
 
75
                Chapter 2: Breaking long lines and strings
76
 
77
Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly
78
available tools.
79
 
80
The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a strongly
81
preferred limit.
82
 
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.
89
 
90
void fun(int a, int b, int c)
91
{
92
        if (condition)
93
                printk(KERN_WARNING "Warning this is a long printk with "
94
                                                "3 parameters a: %u b: %u "
95
                                                "c: %u \n", a, b, c);
96
        else
97
                next_statement;
98
}
99
 
100
                Chapter 3: Placing Braces and Spaces
101
 
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:
107
 
108
        if (x is true) {
109
                we do y
110
        }
111
 
112
This applies to all non-function statement blocks (if, switch, for,
113
while, do).  E.g.:
114
 
115
        switch (action) {
116
        case KOBJ_ADD:
117
                return "add";
118
        case KOBJ_REMOVE:
119
                return "remove";
120
        case KOBJ_CHANGE:
121
                return "change";
122
        default:
123
                return NULL;
124
        }
125
 
126
However, there is one special case, namely functions: they have the
127
opening brace at the beginning of the next line, thus:
128
 
129
        int function(int x)
130
        {
131
                body of function
132
        }
133
 
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).
138
 
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
142
this:
143
 
144
        do {
145
                body of do-loop
146
        } while (condition);
147
 
148
and
149
 
150
        if (x == y) {
151
                ..
152
        } else if (x > y) {
153
                ...
154
        } else {
155
                ....
156
        }
157
 
158
Rationale: K&R.
159
 
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
164
comments on.
165
 
166
Do not unnecessarily use braces where a single statement will do.
167
 
168
if (condition)
169
        action();
170
 
171
This does not apply if one branch of a conditional statement is a single
172
statement. Use braces in both branches.
173
 
174
if (condition) {
175
        do_this();
176
        do_that();
177
} else {
178
        otherwise();
179
}
180
 
181
                3.1:  Spaces
182
 
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).
189
 
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);
194
 
195
Do not add spaces around (inside) parenthesized expressions.  This example is
196
*bad*:
197
 
198
        s = sizeof( struct file );
199
 
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:
203
 
204
        char *linux_banner;
205
        unsigned long long memparse(char *ptr, char **retptr);
206
        char *match_strdup(substring_t *s);
207
 
208
Use one space around (on each side of) most binary and ternary operators,
209
such as any of these:
210
 
211
        =  +  -  <  >  *  /  %  |  &  ^  <=  >=  ==  !=  ?  :
212
 
213
but no space after unary operators:
214
        &  *  +  -  ~  !  sizeof  typeof  alignof  __attribute__  defined
215
 
216
no space before the postfix increment & decrement unary operators:
217
        ++  --
218
 
219
no space after the prefix increment & decrement unary operators:
220
        ++  --
221
 
222
and no space around the '.' and "->" structure member operators.
223
 
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.
230
 
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
234
context lines.
235
 
236
 
237
                Chapter 4: Naming
238
 
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.
244
 
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
247
shooting offense.
248
 
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()".
253
 
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.
258
 
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.
264
 
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).
268
 
269
 
270
                Chapter 5: Typedefs
271
 
272
Please don't use things like "vps_t".
273
 
274
It's a _mistake_ to use typedef for structures and pointers. When you see a
275
 
276
        vps_t a;
277
 
278
in the source, what does it mean?
279
 
280
In contrast, if it says
281
 
282
        struct virtual_container *a;
283
 
284
you can actually tell what "a" is.
285
 
286
Lots of people think that typedefs "help readability". Not so. They are
287
useful only for:
288
 
289
 (a) totally opaque objects (where the typedef is actively used to _hide_
290
     what the object is).
291
 
292
     Example: "pte_t" etc. opaque objects that you can only access using
293
     the proper accessor functions.
294
 
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.
298
 
299
 (b) Clear integer types, where the abstraction _helps_ avoid confusion
300
     whether it is "int" or "long".
301
 
302
     u8/u16/u32 are perfectly fine typedefs, although they fit into
303
     category (d) better than here.
304
 
305
     NOTE! Again - there needs to be a _reason_ for this. If something is
306
     "unsigned long", then there's no reason to do
307
 
308
        typedef unsigned long myflags_t;
309
 
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.
313
 
314
 (c) when you use sparse to literally create a _new_ type for
315
     type-checking.
316
 
317
 (d) New types which are identical to standard C99 types, in certain
318
     exceptional circumstances.
319
 
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.
323
 
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
327
     own.
328
 
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.
331
 
332
 (e) Types safe for use in userspace.
333
 
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
337
     with userspace.
338
 
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.
341
 
342
In general, a pointer, or a struct that has elements that can reasonably
343
be directly accessed should _never_ be a typedef.
344
 
345
 
346
                Chapter 6: Functions
347
 
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.
351
 
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.
357
 
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).
365
 
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.
372
 
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.:
376
 
377
int system_is_up(void)
378
{
379
        return system_state == SYSTEM_RUNNING;
380
}
381
EXPORT_SYMBOL(system_is_up);
382
 
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.
386
 
387
 
388
                Chapter 7: Centralized exiting of functions
389
 
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.
392
 
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.
395
 
396
The rationale is:
397
 
398
- unconditional statements are easier to understand and follow
399
- nesting is reduced
400
- errors by not updating individual exit points when making
401
    modifications are prevented
402
- saves the compiler work to optimize redundant code away ;)
403
 
404
int fun(int a)
405
{
406
        int result = 0;
407
        char *buffer = kmalloc(SIZE);
408
 
409
        if (buffer == NULL)
410
                return -ENOMEM;
411
 
412
        if (condition1) {
413
                while (loop1) {
414
                        ...
415
                }
416
                result = 1;
417
                goto out;
418
        }
419
        ...
420
out:
421
        kfree(buffer);
422
        return result;
423
}
424
 
425
                Chapter 8: Commenting
426
 
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.
431
 
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
439
it.
440
 
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
443
for details.
444
 
445
Linux style for comments is the C89 "/* ... */" style.
446
Don't use C99-style "// ..." comments.
447
 
448
The preferred style for long (multi-line) comments is:
449
 
450
        /*
451
         * This is the preferred style for multi-line
452
         * comments in the Linux kernel source code.
453
         * Please use it consistently.
454
         *
455
         * Description:  A column of asterisks on the left side,
456
         * with beginning and ending almost-blank lines.
457
         */
458
 
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.
463
 
464
 
465
                Chapter 9: You've made a mess of it
466
 
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).
473
 
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:
476
 
477
(defun linux-c-mode ()
478
  "C mode with adjusted defaults for use with the Linux kernel."
479
  (interactive)
480
  (c-mode)
481
  (c-set-style "K&R")
482
  (setq tab-width 8)
483
  (setq indent-tabs-mode t)
484
  (setq c-basic-offset 8))
485
 
486
This will define the M-x linux-c-mode command.  When hacking on a
487
module, if you put the string -*- linux-c -*- somewhere on the first
488
two lines, this mode will be automatically invoked. Also, you may want
489
to add
490
 
491
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("/usr/src/linux.*/.*\\.[ch]$" . linux-c-mode)
492
                        auto-mode-alist))
493
 
494
to your .emacs file if you want to have linux-c-mode switched on
495
automagically when you edit source files under /usr/src/linux.
496
 
497
But even if you fail in getting emacs to do sane formatting, not
498
everything is lost: use "indent".
499
 
500
Now, again, GNU indent has the same brain-dead settings that GNU emacs
501
has, which is why you need to give it a few command line options.
502
However, that's not too bad, because even the makers of GNU indent
503
recognize the authority of K&R (the GNU people aren't evil, they are
504
just severely misguided in this matter), so you just give indent the
505
options "-kr -i8" (stands for "K&R, 8 character indents"), or use
506
"scripts/Lindent", which indents in the latest style.
507
 
508
"indent" has a lot of options, and especially when it comes to comment
509
re-formatting you may want to take a look at the man page.  But
510
remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming.
511
 
512
 
513
                Chapter 10: Kconfig configuration files
514
 
515
For all of the Kconfig* configuration files throughout the source tree,
516
the indentation is somewhat different.  Lines under a "config" definition
517
are indented with one tab, while help text is indented an additional two
518
spaces.  Example:
519
 
520
config AUDIT
521
        bool "Auditing support"
522
        depends on NET
523
        help
524
          Enable auditing infrastructure that can be used with another
525
          kernel subsystem, such as SELinux (which requires this for
526
          logging of avc messages output).  Does not do system-call
527
          auditing without CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL.
528
 
529
Features that might still be considered unstable should be defined as
530
dependent on "EXPERIMENTAL":
531
 
532
config SLUB
533
        depends on EXPERIMENTAL && !ARCH_USES_SLAB_PAGE_STRUCT
534
        bool "SLUB (Unqueued Allocator)"
535
        ...
536
 
537
while seriously dangerous features (such as write support for certain
538
filesystems) should advertise this prominently in their prompt string:
539
 
540
config ADFS_FS_RW
541
        bool "ADFS write support (DANGEROUS)"
542
        depends on ADFS_FS
543
        ...
544
 
545
For full documentation on the configuration files, see the file
546
Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt.
547
 
548
 
549
                Chapter 11: Data structures
550
 
551
Data structures that have visibility outside the single-threaded
552
environment they are created and destroyed in should always have
553
reference counts.  In the kernel, garbage collection doesn't exist (and
554
outside the kernel garbage collection is slow and inefficient), which
555
means that you absolutely _have_ to reference count all your uses.
556
 
557
Reference counting means that you can avoid locking, and allows multiple
558
users to have access to the data structure in parallel - and not having
559
to worry about the structure suddenly going away from under them just
560
because they slept or did something else for a while.
561
 
562
Note that locking is _not_ a replacement for reference counting.
563
Locking is used to keep data structures coherent, while reference
564
counting is a memory management technique.  Usually both are needed, and
565
they are not to be confused with each other.
566
 
567
Many data structures can indeed have two levels of reference counting,
568
when there are users of different "classes".  The subclass count counts
569
the number of subclass users, and decrements the global count just once
570
when the subclass count goes to zero.
571
 
572
Examples of this kind of "multi-level-reference-counting" can be found in
573
memory management ("struct mm_struct": mm_users and mm_count), and in
574
filesystem code ("struct super_block": s_count and s_active).
575
 
576
Remember: if another thread can find your data structure, and you don't
577
have a reference count on it, you almost certainly have a bug.
578
 
579
 
580
                Chapter 12: Macros, Enums and RTL
581
 
582
Names of macros defining constants and labels in enums are capitalized.
583
 
584
#define CONSTANT 0x12345
585
 
586
Enums are preferred when defining several related constants.
587
 
588
CAPITALIZED macro names are appreciated but macros resembling functions
589
may be named in lower case.
590
 
591
Generally, inline functions are preferable to macros resembling functions.
592
 
593
Macros with multiple statements should be enclosed in a do - while block:
594
 
595
#define macrofun(a, b, c)                       \
596
        do {                                    \
597
                if (a == 5)                     \
598
                        do_this(b, c);          \
599
        } while (0)
600
 
601
Things to avoid when using macros:
602
 
603
1) macros that affect control flow:
604
 
605
#define FOO(x)                                  \
606
        do {                                    \
607
                if (blah(x) < 0)                \
608
                        return -EBUGGERED;      \
609
        } while(0)
610
 
611
is a _very_ bad idea.  It looks like a function call but exits the "calling"
612
function; don't break the internal parsers of those who will read the code.
613
 
614
2) macros that depend on having a local variable with a magic name:
615
 
616
#define FOO(val) bar(index, val)
617
 
618
might look like a good thing, but it's confusing as hell when one reads the
619
code and it's prone to breakage from seemingly innocent changes.
620
 
621
3) macros with arguments that are used as l-values: FOO(x) = y; will
622
bite you if somebody e.g. turns FOO into an inline function.
623
 
624
4) forgetting about precedence: macros defining constants using expressions
625
must enclose the expression in parentheses. Beware of similar issues with
626
macros using parameters.
627
 
628
#define CONSTANT 0x4000
629
#define CONSTEXP (CONSTANT | 3)
630
 
631
The cpp manual deals with macros exhaustively. The gcc internals manual also
632
covers RTL which is used frequently with assembly language in the kernel.
633
 
634
 
635
                Chapter 13: Printing kernel messages
636
 
637
Kernel developers like to be seen as literate. Do mind the spelling
638
of kernel messages to make a good impression. Do not use crippled
639
words like "dont"; use "do not" or "don't" instead.  Make the messages
640
concise, clear, and unambiguous.
641
 
642
Kernel messages do not have to be terminated with a period.
643
 
644
Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided.
645
 
646
There are a number of driver model diagnostic macros in 
647
which you should use to make sure messages are matched to the right device
648
and driver, and are tagged with the right level:  dev_err(), dev_warn(),
649
dev_info(), and so forth.  For messages that aren't associated with a
650
particular device,  defines pr_debug() and pr_info().
651
 
652
Coming up with good debugging messages can be quite a challenge; and once
653
you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting.  Such
654
messages should be compiled out when the DEBUG symbol is not defined (that
655
is, by default they are not included).  When you use dev_dbg() or pr_debug(),
656
that's automatic.  Many subsystems have Kconfig options to turn on -DDEBUG.
657
A related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to the
658
ones already enabled by DEBUG.
659
 
660
 
661
                Chapter 14: Allocating memory
662
 
663
The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators:
664
kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc().  Please refer to the API
665
documentation for further information about them.
666
 
667
The preferred form for passing a size of a struct is the following:
668
 
669
        p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), ...);
670
 
671
The alternative form where struct name is spelled out hurts readability and
672
introduces an opportunity for a bug when the pointer variable type is changed
673
but the corresponding sizeof that is passed to a memory allocator is not.
674
 
675
Casting the return value which is a void pointer is redundant. The conversion
676
from void pointer to any other pointer type is guaranteed by the C programming
677
language.
678
 
679
 
680
                Chapter 15: The inline disease
681
 
682
There appears to be a common misperception that gcc has a magic "make me
683
faster" speedup option called "inline". While the use of inlines can be
684
appropriate (for example as a means of replacing macros, see Chapter 12), it
685
very often is not. Abundant use of the inline keyword leads to a much bigger
686
kernel, which in turn slows the system as a whole down, due to a bigger
687
icache footprint for the CPU and simply because there is less memory
688
available for the pagecache. Just think about it; a pagecache miss causes a
689
disk seek, which easily takes 5 miliseconds. There are a LOT of cpu cycles
690
that can go into these 5 miliseconds.
691
 
692
A reasonable rule of thumb is to not put inline at functions that have more
693
than 3 lines of code in them. An exception to this rule are the cases where
694
a parameter is known to be a compiletime constant, and as a result of this
695
constantness you *know* the compiler will be able to optimize most of your
696
function away at compile time. For a good example of this later case, see
697
the kmalloc() inline function.
698
 
699
Often people argue that adding inline to functions that are static and used
700
only once is always a win since there is no space tradeoff. While this is
701
technically correct, gcc is capable of inlining these automatically without
702
help, and the maintenance issue of removing the inline when a second user
703
appears outweighs the potential value of the hint that tells gcc to do
704
something it would have done anyway.
705
 
706
 
707
                Chapter 16: Function return values and names
708
 
709
Functions can return values of many different kinds, and one of the
710
most common is a value indicating whether the function succeeded or
711
failed.  Such a value can be represented as an error-code integer
712
(-Exxx = failure, 0 = success) or a "succeeded" boolean (0 = failure,
713
non-zero = success).
714
 
715
Mixing up these two sorts of representations is a fertile source of
716
difficult-to-find bugs.  If the C language included a strong distinction
717
between integers and booleans then the compiler would find these mistakes
718
for us... but it doesn't.  To help prevent such bugs, always follow this
719
convention:
720
 
721
        If the name of a function is an action or an imperative command,
722
        the function should return an error-code integer.  If the name
723
        is a predicate, the function should return a "succeeded" boolean.
724
 
725
For example, "add work" is a command, and the add_work() function returns 0
726
for success or -EBUSY for failure.  In the same way, "PCI device present" is
727
a predicate, and the pci_dev_present() function returns 1 if it succeeds in
728
finding a matching device or 0 if it doesn't.
729
 
730
All EXPORTed functions must respect this convention, and so should all
731
public functions.  Private (static) functions need not, but it is
732
recommended that they do.
733
 
734
Functions whose return value is the actual result of a computation, rather
735
than an indication of whether the computation succeeded, are not subject to
736
this rule.  Generally they indicate failure by returning some out-of-range
737
result.  Typical examples would be functions that return pointers; they use
738
NULL or the ERR_PTR mechanism to report failure.
739
 
740
 
741
                Chapter 17:  Don't re-invent the kernel macros
742
 
743
The header file include/linux/kernel.h contains a number of macros that
744
you should use, rather than explicitly coding some variant of them yourself.
745
For example, if you need to calculate the length of an array, take advantage
746
of the macro
747
 
748
  #define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof((x)[0]))
749
 
750
Similarly, if you need to calculate the size of some structure member, use
751
 
752
  #define FIELD_SIZEOF(t, f) (sizeof(((t*)0)->f))
753
 
754
There are also min() and max() macros that do strict type checking if you
755
need them.  Feel free to peruse that header file to see what else is already
756
defined that you shouldn't reproduce in your code.
757
 
758
 
759
                Chapter 18:  Editor modelines and other cruft
760
 
761
Some editors can interpret configuration information embedded in source files,
762
indicated with special markers.  For example, emacs interprets lines marked
763
like this:
764
 
765
-*- mode: c -*-
766
 
767
Or like this:
768
 
769
/*
770
Local Variables:
771
compile-command: "gcc -DMAGIC_DEBUG_FLAG foo.c"
772
End:
773
*/
774
 
775
Vim interprets markers that look like this:
776
 
777
/* vim:set sw=8 noet */
778
 
779
Do not include any of these in source files.  People have their own personal
780
editor configurations, and your source files should not override them.  This
781
includes markers for indentation and mode configuration.  People may use their
782
own custom mode, or may have some other magic method for making indentation
783
work correctly.
784
 
785
 
786
 
787
                Appendix I: References
788
 
789
The C Programming Language, Second Edition
790
by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
791
Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988.
792
ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hardback).
793
URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/
794
 
795
The Practice of Programming
796
by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike.
797
Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1999.
798
ISBN 0-201-61586-X.
799
URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/
800
 
801
GNU manuals - where in compliance with K&R and this text - for cpp, gcc,
802
gcc internals and indent, all available from http://www.gnu.org/manual/
803
 
804
WG14 is the international standardization working group for the programming
805
language C, URL: http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG14/
806
 
807
Kernel CodingStyle, by greg@kroah.com at OLS 2002:
808
http://www.kroah.com/linux/talks/ols_2002_kernel_codingstyle_talk/html/
809
 
810
--
811
Last updated on 2007-July-13.
812
 

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