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Re: Policy on formatting fixes intermixed with code changes?

 

On 27/03/12 23:48, Peter Hutterer wrote:
> speaking as someone who's worked on a project with no real coding style for
> years the mess you end up with is unbearable. You'll end up writing code
> where two hunks in the same function may have different indentation styles
> because no-one ever bit the bullet and re-indented the whole project.

Agreed; let's optimise for the eyeballs of someone reading the code for
the first time (of which there will be many, and they will be easily
turned off by finding a mess) rather than the eyeballs of someone
reading history (who is already in detective mode and likely willing to
do the work to parse out style from substance changes).

I would suggest you go further, and say that code changes to a
particular area should also clean up the code style of the code north
and south of them. The more firm you are about your style, the more
pleasurable it will be for new contributors, and the faster you get
there the better. As long as your chosen style is sensible, of course :)

Mark

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