From: Michael Widenius
Date: March 8 2009 1:38pm
Subject: Re: MySQL University Session: Good Coding Style follow up
List-Archive: http://lists.mysql.com/internals/36364
Message-Id: <18867.51802.256360.712316@narttu.askmonty.org>
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Hi!

>>>>> "Jay" == Jay Pipes <Jay.Pipes@stripped> writes:

<cut>

Jay> Overall, it's very helpful to have a singular style, but we all know 
Jay> MySQL's code base is developed by lots of people and therefore it's 
Jay> tough to be consistent all the time.  Once a code style is decided on, 
Jay> the bigger problem is to be consistent in code reviews, and make style a 
Jay> reason for rejection of a patch.  The rejection doesn't need to be 
Jay> harsh, just something like "Looks good, but please fix up some stylistic 
Jay> stuff to correspond to our coding guide, which you can find here (link..)"

As long as there is captain that applies the patch, he should be
responsible to fix the style issues.

I don't think we should enforce style too hard on outside developers
that doesn't have commit rights to a MySQL based project.

They are by default working with other projects with different coding
style and forcing them to learn another style just to submit a bug or
a small enhancment is a big burden.

In the end, having a 'code style fixing' script would be the easyest
way to ensure all code looks and feels the same...

Jay> In my experience, surveys don't tend to produce very good results 
Jay> because they typically don't involve people actually *commenting* and 
Jay> writing about their preferences, so you don't get a feel for the 
Jay> opinions of the contributors...you just see percentages.  That's why I 
Jay> prefer the mailing list decisions.

Agree that pure surveys doesn't work. However having a group that
drives a change and ensures that everyone deeply involved in MySQL
development is asked and have a chance to comment would be able to
reach sensible results (as long as the process and everything around
is it properly documented).

Regards,
Monty