103 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
103 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
How to write code for CVS
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* Compiler options
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If you are using GCC, you'll want to configure with -Wall, which can
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detect many programming errors. This is not the default because it
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might cause spurious warnings, but at least on some machines, there
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should be no spurious warnings. For example:
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$ CFLAGS="-g -Wall" ./configure
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Configure is not very good at remembering this setting; it will get
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wiped out whenever you do a ./config.status --recheck, so you'll need
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to use:
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$ CFLAGS="-g -Wall" ./config.status --recheck
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* Indentation style
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CVS mostly uses a consistent indentation style which looks like this:
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void
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foo (arg)
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char *arg;
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{
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if (arg != NULL)
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{
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bar (arg);
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baz (arg);
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}
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}
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The file cvs-format.el contains settings for emacs and the NEWS file
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contains a set of options for the indent program which I haven't tried
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but which are correct as far as I know. You will find some code which
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does not conform to this indentation style; the plan is to reindent it
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as those sections of the code are changed (one function at a time,
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perhaps).
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In a submitted patch it is acceptable to refrain from changing the
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indentation of large blocks of code to minimize the size of the patch;
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the person checking in such a patch should reindent it.
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* Portability
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If it is in ANSI C and it is in SunOS4 (using /bin/cc), generally it
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is OK to use it without ifdefs (for example, assert() and void * as
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long as you add more casts to and from void * than ANSI requires. But
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not function prototypes). Such constructs are generally portable
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enough, including to NT, OS/2, VMS, etc.
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* Run-time behaviors
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Use assert() to check "can't happen" conditions internal to CVS. We
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realize that there are functions in CVS which instead return NULL or
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some such value (thus confusing the meaning of such a returned value),
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but we want to fix that code. Of course, bad input data, a corrupt
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repository, bad options, etc., should always print a real error
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message instead.
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* Coding standards in general
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Generally speaking the GNU coding standards are mostly used by CVS
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(but see the exceptions mentioned above, such as indentation style,
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and perhaps an exception or two we haven't mentioned). This is the
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file standards.text at the GNU FTP sites.
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* Submitting patches
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Please include a ChangeLog entry (see the GNU coding standards for
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information on writing one) with patches. Include a description of
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what the patch does (sometimes the ChangeLog entry and/or comments in
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the code are appropriate for this, but not always)--patches should not
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be checked in unless there is some reason for them, and the
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description may be helpful if there is a better way to solve the
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problem. In addition to the ChangeLog entry, there should be a change
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to the NEWS file in the case of a new feature.
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If you solve several unrelated problems, submit a separate
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patch for each one. Patches should be tested before submission. Use
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context diffs or unidiffs for patches.
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Note that all submitted changes may be distributed under the terms of
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the GNU Public License, so if you don't like this, don't submit them.
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Submit changes to bug-cvs@prep.ai.mit.edu.
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Generally speaking if you follow the guidelines in this file you can
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expect a yes or no answer about whether your patch is accepted. But
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even in this case there is no guarantee because wading through a bunch
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of submissions can be time consuming, and noone has volunteered to
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offer any such guarantee. If you don't receive an answer one way or
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another within a month, feel free to ask what the status is. You can,
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if you wish, distribute your patch on mailing lists or newsgroups, if
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you want to make it available before it gets merged.
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* What is the schedule for the next release?
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There isn't one. That is, upcoming releases are not announced (or
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even hinted at, really) until the feature freeze which is
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approximately 2 weeks before the final release (at this time test
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releases start appearing and are announced on info-cvs). This is
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intentional, to avoid a last minute rush to get new features in.
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