1 2 Linux kernel coding style 3 4This is a short document describing the preferred coding style for the 5linux kernel. Coding style is very personal, and I won't _force_ my 6views on anybody, but this is what goes for anything that I have to be 7able to maintain, and I'd prefer it for most other things too. Please 8at least consider the points made here. 9 10First off, I'd suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards, 11and NOT read it. Burn them, it's a great symbolic gesture. 12 13Anyway, here goes: 14 15 16 Chapter 1: Indentation 17 18Tabs are 8 characters, and thus indentations are also 8 characters. 19There are heretic movements that try to make indentations 4 (or even 2!) 20characters deep, and that is akin to trying to define the value of PI to 21be 3. 22 23Rationale: The whole idea behind indentation is to clearly define where 24a block of control starts and ends. Especially when you've been looking 25at your screen for 20 straight hours, you'll find it a lot easier to see 26how the indentation works if you have large indentations. 27 28Now, some people will claim that having 8-character indentations makes 29the code move too far to the right, and makes it hard to read on a 3080-character terminal screen. The answer to that is that if you need 31more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix 32your program. 33 34In short, 8-char indents make things easier to read, and have the added 35benefit of warning you when you're nesting your functions too deep. 36Heed that warning. 37 38The preferred way to ease multiple indentation levels in a switch statement is 39to align the "switch" and its subordinate "case" labels in the same column 40instead 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 60Don't put multiple statements on a single line unless you have 61something to hide: 62 63 if (condition) do_this; 64 do_something_everytime; 65 66Don't put multiple assignments on a single line either. Kernel coding style 67is super simple. Avoid tricky expressions. 68 69Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never 70used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken. 71 72Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines. 73 74 75 Chapter 2: Breaking long lines and strings 76 77Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly 78available tools. 79 80The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a strongly 81preferred limit. 82 83Statements longer than 80 columns will be broken into sensible chunks. 84Descendants are always substantially shorter than the parent and are placed 85substantially to the right. The same applies to function headers with a long 86argument list. Long strings are as well broken into shorter strings. The 87only exception to this is where exceeding 80 columns significantly increases 88readability and does not hide information. 89 90void 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 102The other issue that always comes up in C styling is the placement of 103braces. Unlike the indent size, there are few technical reasons to 104choose one placement strategy over the other, but the preferred way, as 105shown to us by the prophets Kernighan and Ritchie, is to put the opening 106brace last on the line, and put the closing brace first, thusly: 107 108 if (x is true) { 109 we do y 110 } 111 112This applies to all non-function statement blocks (if, switch, for, 113while, 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 126However, there is one special case, namely functions: they have the 127opening brace at the beginning of the next line, thus: 128 129 int function(int x) 130 { 131 body of function 132 } 133 134Heretic people all over the world have claimed that this inconsistency 135is ... well ... inconsistent, but all right-thinking people know that 136(a) K&R are _right_ and (b) K&R are right. Besides, functions are 137special anyway (you can't nest them in C). 138 139Note that the closing brace is empty on a line of its own, _except_ in 140the cases where it is followed by a continuation of the same statement, 141ie a "while" in a do-statement or an "else" in an if-statement, like 142this: 143 144 do { 145 body of do-loop 146 } while (condition); 147 148and 149 150 if (x == y) { 151 .. 152 } else if (x > y) { 153 ... 154 } else { 155 .... 156 } 157 158Rationale: K&R. 159 160Also, note that this brace-placement also minimizes the number of empty 161(or almost empty) lines, without any loss of readability. Thus, as the 162supply of new-lines on your screen is not a renewable resource (think 16325-line terminal screens here), you have more empty lines to put 164comments on. 165 166Do not unnecessarily use braces where a single statement will do. 167 168if (condition) 169 action(); 170 171and 172 173if (condition) 174 do_this(); 175else 176 do_that(); 177 178This does not apply if one branch of a conditional statement is a single 179statement. Use braces in both branches. 180 181if (condition) { 182 do_this(); 183 do_that(); 184} else { 185 otherwise(); 186} 187 188 3.1: Spaces 189 190Linux kernel style for use of spaces depends (mostly) on 191function-versus-keyword usage. Use a space after (most) keywords. The 192notable exceptions are sizeof, typeof, alignof, and __attribute__, which look 193somewhat like functions (and are usually used with parentheses in Linux, 194although they are not required in the language, as in: "sizeof info" after 195"struct fileinfo info;" is declared). 196 197So use a space after these keywords: 198 if, switch, case, for, do, while 199but not with sizeof, typeof, alignof, or __attribute__. E.g., 200 s = sizeof(struct file); 201 202Do not add spaces around (inside) parenthesized expressions. This example is 203*bad*: 204 205 s = sizeof( struct file ); 206 207When declaring pointer data or a function that returns a pointer type, the 208preferred use of '*' is adjacent to the data name or function name and not 209adjacent to the type name. Examples: 210 211 char *linux_banner; 212 unsigned long long memparse(char *ptr, char **retptr); 213 char *match_strdup(substring_t *s); 214 215Use one space around (on each side of) most binary and ternary operators, 216such as any of these: 217 218 = + - < > * / % | & ^ <= >= == != ? : 219 220but no space after unary operators: 221 & * + - ~ ! sizeof typeof alignof __attribute__ defined 222 223no space before the postfix increment & decrement unary operators: 224 ++ -- 225 226no space after the prefix increment & decrement unary operators: 227 ++ -- 228 229and no space around the '.' and "->" structure member operators. 230 231Do not leave trailing whitespace at the ends of lines. Some editors with 232"smart" indentation will insert whitespace at the beginning of new lines as 233appropriate, so you can start typing the next line of code right away. 234However, some such editors do not remove the whitespace if you end up not 235putting a line of code there, such as if you leave a blank line. As a result, 236you end up with lines containing trailing whitespace. 237 238Git will warn you about patches that introduce trailing whitespace, and can 239optionally strip the trailing whitespace for you; however, if applying a series 240of patches, this may make later patches in the series fail by changing their 241context lines. 242 243 244 Chapter 4: Naming 245 246C is a Spartan language, and so should your naming be. Unlike Modula-2 247and Pascal programmers, C programmers do not use cute names like 248ThisVariableIsATemporaryCounter. A C programmer would call that 249variable "tmp", which is much easier to write, and not the least more 250difficult to understand. 251 252HOWEVER, while mixed-case names are frowned upon, descriptive names for 253global variables are a must. To call a global function "foo" is a 254shooting offense. 255 256GLOBAL variables (to be used only if you _really_ need them) need to 257have descriptive names, as do global functions. If you have a function 258that counts the number of active users, you should call that 259"count_active_users()" or similar, you should _not_ call it "cntusr()". 260 261Encoding the type of a function into the name (so-called Hungarian 262notation) is brain damaged - the compiler knows the types anyway and can 263check those, and it only confuses the programmer. No wonder MicroSoft 264makes buggy programs. 265 266LOCAL variable names should be short, and to the point. If you have 267some random integer loop counter, it should probably be called "i". 268Calling it "loop_counter" is non-productive, if there is no chance of it 269being mis-understood. Similarly, "tmp" can be just about any type of 270variable that is used to hold a temporary value. 271 272If you are afraid to mix up your local variable names, you have another 273problem, which is called the function-growth-hormone-imbalance syndrome. 274See chapter 6 (Functions). 275 276 277 Chapter 5: Typedefs 278 279Please don't use things like "vps_t". 280 281It's a _mistake_ to use typedef for structures and pointers. When you see a 282 283 vps_t a; 284 285in the source, what does it mean? 286 287In contrast, if it says 288 289 struct virtual_container *a; 290 291you can actually tell what "a" is. 292 293Lots of people think that typedefs "help readability". Not so. They are 294useful only for: 295 296 (a) totally opaque objects (where the typedef is actively used to _hide_ 297 what the object is). 298 299 Example: "pte_t" etc. opaque objects that you can only access using 300 the proper accessor functions. 301 302 NOTE! Opaqueness and "accessor functions" are not good in themselves. 303 The reason we have them for things like pte_t etc. is that there 304 really is absolutely _zero_ portably accessible information there. 305 306 (b) Clear integer types, where the abstraction _helps_ avoid confusion 307 whether it is "int" or "long". 308 309 u8/u16/u32 are perfectly fine typedefs, although they fit into 310 category (d) better than here. 311 312 NOTE! Again - there needs to be a _reason_ for this. If something is 313 "unsigned long", then there's no reason to do 314 315 typedef unsigned long myflags_t; 316 317 but if there is a clear reason for why it under certain circumstances 318 might be an "unsigned int" and under other configurations might be 319 "unsigned long", then by all means go ahead and use a typedef. 320 321 (c) when you use sparse to literally create a _new_ type for 322 type-checking. 323 324 (d) New types which are identical to standard C99 types, in certain 325 exceptional circumstances. 326 327 Although it would only take a short amount of time for the eyes and 328 brain to become accustomed to the standard types like 'uint32_t', 329 some people object to their use anyway. 330 331 Therefore, the Linux-specific 'u8/u16/u32/u64' types and their 332 signed equivalents which are identical to standard types are 333 permitted -- although they are not mandatory in new code of your 334 own. 335 336 When editing existing code which already uses one or the other set 337 of types, you should conform to the existing choices in that code. 338 339 (e) Types safe for use in userspace. 340 341 In certain structures which are visible to userspace, we cannot 342 require C99 types and cannot use the 'u32' form above. Thus, we 343 use __u32 and similar types in all structures which are shared 344 with userspace. 345 346Maybe there are other cases too, but the rule should basically be to NEVER 347EVER use a typedef unless you can clearly match one of those rules. 348 349In general, a pointer, or a struct that has elements that can reasonably 350be directly accessed should _never_ be a typedef. 351 352 353 Chapter 6: Functions 354 355Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing. They should 356fit on one or two screenfuls of text (the ISO/ANSI screen size is 80x24, 357as we all know), and do one thing and do that well. 358 359The maximum length of a function is inversely proportional to the 360complexity and indentation level of that function. So, if you have a 361conceptually simple function that is just one long (but simple) 362case-statement, where you have to do lots of small things for a lot of 363different cases, it's OK to have a longer function. 364 365However, if you have a complex function, and you suspect that a 366less-than-gifted first-year high-school student might not even 367understand what the function is all about, you should adhere to the 368maximum limits all the more closely. Use helper functions with 369descriptive names (you can ask the compiler to in-line them if you think 370it's performance-critical, and it will probably do a better job of it 371than you would have done). 372 373Another measure of the function is the number of local variables. They 374shouldn't exceed 5-10, or you're doing something wrong. Re-think the 375function, and split it into smaller pieces. A human brain can 376generally easily keep track of about 7 different things, anything more 377and it gets confused. You know you're brilliant, but maybe you'd like 378to understand what you did 2 weeks from now. 379 380In source files, separate functions with one blank line. If the function is 381exported, the EXPORT* macro for it should follow immediately after the closing 382function brace line. E.g.: 383 384int system_is_up(void) 385{ 386 return system_state == SYSTEM_RUNNING; 387} 388EXPORT_SYMBOL(system_is_up); 389 390In function prototypes, include parameter names with their data types. 391Although this is not required by the C language, it is preferred in Linux 392because it is a simple way to add valuable information for the reader. 393 394 395 Chapter 7: Centralized exiting of functions 396 397Albeit deprecated by some people, the equivalent of the goto statement is 398used frequently by compilers in form of the unconditional jump instruction. 399 400The goto statement comes in handy when a function exits from multiple 401locations and some common work such as cleanup has to be done. 402 403The rationale is: 404 405- unconditional statements are easier to understand and follow 406- nesting is reduced 407- errors by not updating individual exit points when making 408 modifications are prevented 409- saves the compiler work to optimize redundant code away ;) 410 411int fun(int a) 412{ 413 int result = 0; 414 char *buffer = kmalloc(SIZE); 415 416 if (buffer == NULL) 417 return -ENOMEM; 418 419 if (condition1) { 420 while (loop1) { 421 ... 422 } 423 result = 1; 424 goto out; 425 } 426 ... 427out: 428 kfree(buffer); 429 return result; 430} 431 432 Chapter 8: Commenting 433 434Comments are good, but there is also a danger of over-commenting. NEVER 435try to explain HOW your code works in a comment: it's much better to 436write the code so that the _working_ is obvious, and it's a waste of 437time to explain badly written code. 438 439Generally, you want your comments to tell WHAT your code does, not HOW. 440Also, try to avoid putting comments inside a function body: if the 441function is so complex that you need to separately comment parts of it, 442you should probably go back to chapter 6 for a while. You can make 443small comments to note or warn about something particularly clever (or 444ugly), but try to avoid excess. Instead, put the comments at the head 445of the function, telling people what it does, and possibly WHY it does 446it. 447 448When commenting the kernel API functions, please use the kernel-doc format. 449See the files Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt and scripts/kernel-doc 450for details. 451 452Linux style for comments is the C89 "/* ... */" style. 453Don't use C99-style "// ..." comments. 454 455The preferred style for long (multi-line) comments is: 456 457 /* 458 * This is the preferred style for multi-line 459 * comments in the Linux kernel source code. 460 * Please use it consistently. 461 * 462 * Description: A column of asterisks on the left side, 463 * with beginning and ending almost-blank lines. 464 */ 465 466It's also important to comment data, whether they are basic types or derived 467types. To this end, use just one data declaration per line (no commas for 468multiple data declarations). This leaves you room for a small comment on each 469item, explaining its use. 470 471 472 Chapter 9: You've made a mess of it 473 474That's OK, we all do. You've probably been told by your long-time Unix 475user helper that "GNU emacs" automatically formats the C sources for 476you, and you've noticed that yes, it does do that, but the defaults it 477uses are less than desirable (in fact, they are worse than random 478typing - an infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never 479make a good program). 480 481So, you can either get rid of GNU emacs, or change it to use saner 482values. To do the latter, you can stick the following in your .emacs file: 483 484(defun c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only (ignored) 485 "Line up argument lists by tabs, not spaces" 486 (let* ((anchor (c-langelem-pos c-syntactic-element)) 487 (column (c-langelem-2nd-pos c-syntactic-element)) 488 (offset (- (1+ column) anchor)) 489 (steps (floor offset c-basic-offset))) 490 (* (max steps 1) 491 c-basic-offset))) 492 493(add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook 494 (lambda () 495 ;; Add kernel style 496 (c-add-style 497 "linux-tabs-only" 498 '("linux" (c-offsets-alist 499 (arglist-cont-nonempty 500 c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg 501 c-lineup-arglist-tabs-only)))))) 502 503(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 504 (lambda () 505 (let ((filename (buffer-file-name))) 506 ;; Enable kernel mode for the appropriate files 507 (when (and filename 508 (string-match (expand-file-name "~/src/linux-trees") 509 filename)) 510 (setq indent-tabs-mode t) 511 (c-set-style "linux-tabs-only"))))) 512 513This will make emacs go better with the kernel coding style for C 514files below ~/src/linux-trees. 515 516But even if you fail in getting emacs to do sane formatting, not 517everything is lost: use "indent". 518 519Now, again, GNU indent has the same brain-dead settings that GNU emacs 520has, which is why you need to give it a few command line options. 521However, that's not too bad, because even the makers of GNU indent 522recognize the authority of K&R (the GNU people aren't evil, they are 523just severely misguided in this matter), so you just give indent the 524options "-kr -i8" (stands for "K&R, 8 character indents"), or use 525"scripts/Lindent", which indents in the latest style. 526 527"indent" has a lot of options, and especially when it comes to comment 528re-formatting you may want to take a look at the man page. But 529remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming. 530 531 532 Chapter 10: Kconfig configuration files 533 534For all of the Kconfig* configuration files throughout the source tree, 535the indentation is somewhat different. Lines under a "config" definition 536are indented with one tab, while help text is indented an additional two 537spaces. Example: 538 539config AUDIT 540 bool "Auditing support" 541 depends on NET 542 help 543 Enable auditing infrastructure that can be used with another 544 kernel subsystem, such as SELinux (which requires this for 545 logging of avc messages output). Does not do system-call 546 auditing without CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL. 547 548Features that might still be considered unstable should be defined as 549dependent on "EXPERIMENTAL": 550 551config SLUB 552 depends on EXPERIMENTAL && !ARCH_USES_SLAB_PAGE_STRUCT 553 bool "SLUB (Unqueued Allocator)" 554 ... 555 556while seriously dangerous features (such as write support for certain 557filesystems) should advertise this prominently in their prompt string: 558 559config ADFS_FS_RW 560 bool "ADFS write support (DANGEROUS)" 561 depends on ADFS_FS 562 ... 563 564For full documentation on the configuration files, see the file 565Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt. 566 567 568 Chapter 11: Data structures 569 570Data structures that have visibility outside the single-threaded 571environment they are created and destroyed in should always have 572reference counts. In the kernel, garbage collection doesn't exist (and 573outside the kernel garbage collection is slow and inefficient), which 574means that you absolutely _have_ to reference count all your uses. 575 576Reference counting means that you can avoid locking, and allows multiple 577users to have access to the data structure in parallel - and not having 578to worry about the structure suddenly going away from under them just 579because they slept or did something else for a while. 580 581Note that locking is _not_ a replacement for reference counting. 582Locking is used to keep data structures coherent, while reference 583counting is a memory management technique. Usually both are needed, and 584they are not to be confused with each other. 585 586Many data structures can indeed have two levels of reference counting, 587when there are users of different "classes". The subclass count counts 588the number of subclass users, and decrements the global count just once 589when the subclass count goes to zero. 590 591Examples of this kind of "multi-level-reference-counting" can be found in 592memory management ("struct mm_struct": mm_users and mm_count), and in 593filesystem code ("struct super_block": s_count and s_active). 594 595Remember: if another thread can find your data structure, and you don't 596have a reference count on it, you almost certainly have a bug. 597 598 599 Chapter 12: Macros, Enums and RTL 600 601Names of macros defining constants and labels in enums are capitalized. 602 603#define CONSTANT 0x12345 604 605Enums are preferred when defining several related constants. 606 607CAPITALIZED macro names are appreciated but macros resembling functions 608may be named in lower case. 609 610Generally, inline functions are preferable to macros resembling functions. 611 612Macros with multiple statements should be enclosed in a do - while block: 613 614#define macrofun(a, b, c) \ 615 do { \ 616 if (a == 5) \ 617 do_this(b, c); \ 618 } while (0) 619 620Things to avoid when using macros: 621 6221) macros that affect control flow: 623 624#define FOO(x) \ 625 do { \ 626 if (blah(x) < 0) \ 627 return -EBUGGERED; \ 628 } while(0) 629 630is a _very_ bad idea. It looks like a function call but exits the "calling" 631function; don't break the internal parsers of those who will read the code. 632 6332) macros that depend on having a local variable with a magic name: 634 635#define FOO(val) bar(index, val) 636 637might look like a good thing, but it's confusing as hell when one reads the 638code and it's prone to breakage from seemingly innocent changes. 639 6403) macros with arguments that are used as l-values: FOO(x) = y; will 641bite you if somebody e.g. turns FOO into an inline function. 642 6434) forgetting about precedence: macros defining constants using expressions 644must enclose the expression in parentheses. Beware of similar issues with 645macros using parameters. 646 647#define CONSTANT 0x4000 648#define CONSTEXP (CONSTANT | 3) 649 650The cpp manual deals with macros exhaustively. The gcc internals manual also 651covers RTL which is used frequently with assembly language in the kernel. 652 653 654 Chapter 13: Printing kernel messages 655 656Kernel developers like to be seen as literate. Do mind the spelling 657of kernel messages to make a good impression. Do not use crippled 658words like "dont"; use "do not" or "don't" instead. Make the messages 659concise, clear, and unambiguous. 660 661Kernel messages do not have to be terminated with a period. 662 663Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided. 664 665There are a number of driver model diagnostic macros in <linux/device.h> 666which you should use to make sure messages are matched to the right device 667and driver, and are tagged with the right level: dev_err(), dev_warn(), 668dev_info(), and so forth. For messages that aren't associated with a 669particular device, <linux/printk.h> defines pr_debug() and pr_info(). 670 671Coming up with good debugging messages can be quite a challenge; and once 672you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting. Such 673messages should be compiled out when the DEBUG symbol is not defined (that 674is, by default they are not included). When you use dev_dbg() or pr_debug(), 675that's automatic. Many subsystems have Kconfig options to turn on -DDEBUG. 676A related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to the 677ones already enabled by DEBUG. 678 679 680 Chapter 14: Allocating memory 681 682The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators: 683kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc(). Please refer to the API 684documentation for further information about them. 685 686The preferred form for passing a size of a struct is the following: 687 688 p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), ...); 689 690The alternative form where struct name is spelled out hurts readability and 691introduces an opportunity for a bug when the pointer variable type is changed 692but the corresponding sizeof that is passed to a memory allocator is not. 693 694Casting the return value which is a void pointer is redundant. The conversion 695from void pointer to any other pointer type is guaranteed by the C programming 696language. 697 698 699 Chapter 15: The inline disease 700 701There appears to be a common misperception that gcc has a magic "make me 702faster" speedup option called "inline". While the use of inlines can be 703appropriate (for example as a means of replacing macros, see Chapter 12), it 704very often is not. Abundant use of the inline keyword leads to a much bigger 705kernel, which in turn slows the system as a whole down, due to a bigger 706icache footprint for the CPU and simply because there is less memory 707available for the pagecache. Just think about it; a pagecache miss causes a 708disk seek, which easily takes 5 milliseconds. There are a LOT of cpu cycles 709that can go into these 5 milliseconds. 710 711A reasonable rule of thumb is to not put inline at functions that have more 712than 3 lines of code in them. An exception to this rule are the cases where 713a parameter is known to be a compiletime constant, and as a result of this 714constantness you *know* the compiler will be able to optimize most of your 715function away at compile time. For a good example of this later case, see 716the kmalloc() inline function. 717 718Often people argue that adding inline to functions that are static and used 719only once is always a win since there is no space tradeoff. While this is 720technically correct, gcc is capable of inlining these automatically without 721help, and the maintenance issue of removing the inline when a second user 722appears outweighs the potential value of the hint that tells gcc to do 723something it would have done anyway. 724 725 726 Chapter 16: Function return values and names 727 728Functions can return values of many different kinds, and one of the 729most common is a value indicating whether the function succeeded or 730failed. Such a value can be represented as an error-code integer 731(-Exxx = failure, 0 = success) or a "succeeded" boolean (0 = failure, 732non-zero = success). 733 734Mixing up these two sorts of representations is a fertile source of 735difficult-to-find bugs. If the C language included a strong distinction 736between integers and booleans then the compiler would find these mistakes 737for us... but it doesn't. To help prevent such bugs, always follow this 738convention: 739 740 If the name of a function is an action or an imperative command, 741 the function should return an error-code integer. If the name 742 is a predicate, the function should return a "succeeded" boolean. 743 744For example, "add work" is a command, and the add_work() function returns 0 745for success or -EBUSY for failure. In the same way, "PCI device present" is 746a predicate, and the pci_dev_present() function returns 1 if it succeeds in 747finding a matching device or 0 if it doesn't. 748 749All EXPORTed functions must respect this convention, and so should all 750public functions. Private (static) functions need not, but it is 751recommended that they do. 752 753Functions whose return value is the actual result of a computation, rather 754than an indication of whether the computation succeeded, are not subject to 755this rule. Generally they indicate failure by returning some out-of-range 756result. Typical examples would be functions that return pointers; they use 757NULL or the ERR_PTR mechanism to report failure. 758 759 760 Chapter 17: Don't re-invent the kernel macros 761 762The header file include/linux/kernel.h contains a number of macros that 763you should use, rather than explicitly coding some variant of them yourself. 764For example, if you need to calculate the length of an array, take advantage 765of the macro 766 767 #define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof((x)[0])) 768 769Similarly, if you need to calculate the size of some structure member, use 770 771 #define FIELD_SIZEOF(t, f) (sizeof(((t*)0)->f)) 772 773There are also min() and max() macros that do strict type checking if you 774need them. Feel free to peruse that header file to see what else is already 775defined that you shouldn't reproduce in your code. 776 777 778 Chapter 18: Editor modelines and other cruft 779 780Some editors can interpret configuration information embedded in source files, 781indicated with special markers. For example, emacs interprets lines marked 782like this: 783 784-*- mode: c -*- 785 786Or like this: 787 788/* 789Local Variables: 790compile-command: "gcc -DMAGIC_DEBUG_FLAG foo.c" 791End: 792*/ 793 794Vim interprets markers that look like this: 795 796/* vim:set sw=8 noet */ 797 798Do not include any of these in source files. People have their own personal 799editor configurations, and your source files should not override them. This 800includes markers for indentation and mode configuration. People may use their 801own custom mode, or may have some other magic method for making indentation 802work correctly. 803 804 805 806 Appendix I: References 807 808The C Programming Language, Second Edition 809by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie. 810Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988. 811ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hardback). 812URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/ 813 814The Practice of Programming 815by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike. 816Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1999. 817ISBN 0-201-61586-X. 818URL: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/ 819 820GNU manuals - where in compliance with K&R and this text - for cpp, gcc, 821gcc internals and indent, all available from http://www.gnu.org/manual/ 822 823WG14 is the international standardization working group for the programming 824language C, URL: http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG14/ 825 826Kernel CodingStyle, by greg@kroah.com at OLS 2002: 827http://www.kroah.com/linux/talks/ols_2002_kernel_codingstyle_talk/html/ 828 829