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cf6cac20 EN |
1 | Like other projects, we also have some guidelines for our code. For |
2 | Git in general, a few rough rules are: | |
6d0618a8 JS |
3 | |
4 | - Most importantly, we never say "It's in POSIX; we'll happily | |
5 | ignore your needs should your system not conform to it." | |
6 | We live in the real world. | |
7 | ||
8 | - However, we often say "Let's stay away from that construct, | |
9 | it's not even in POSIX". | |
10 | ||
11 | - In spite of the above two rules, we sometimes say "Although | |
12 | this is not in POSIX, it (is so convenient | makes the code | |
13 | much more readable | has other good characteristics) and | |
14 | practically all the platforms we care about support it, so | |
15 | let's use it". | |
16 | ||
17 | Again, we live in the real world, and it is sometimes a | |
18 | judgement call, the decision based more on real world | |
19 | constraints people face than what the paper standard says. | |
20 | ||
dd30800b JH |
21 | - Fixing style violations while working on a real change as a |
22 | preparatory clean-up step is good, but otherwise avoid useless code | |
23 | churn for the sake of conforming to the style. | |
24 | ||
25 | "Once it _is_ in the tree, it's not really worth the patch noise to | |
26 | go and fix it up." | |
ffbf6a74 | 27 | Cf. https://lore.kernel.org/all/20100126160632.3bdbe172.akpm@linux-foundation.org/ |
dd30800b | 28 | |
607817a3 JH |
29 | - Log messages to explain your changes are as important as the |
30 | changes themselves. Clearly written code and in-code comments | |
31 | explain how the code works and what is assumed from the surrounding | |
32 | context. The log messages explain what the changes wanted to | |
33 | achieve and why the changes were necessary (more on this in the | |
34 | accompanying SubmittingPatches document). | |
35 | ||
c5e366b1 | 36 | Make your code readable and sensible, and don't try to be clever. |
6d0618a8 JS |
37 | |
38 | As for more concrete guidelines, just imitate the existing code | |
39 | (this is a good guideline, no matter which project you are | |
dfb047b9 | 40 | contributing to). It is always preferable to match the _local_ |
2de9b711 | 41 | convention. New code added to Git suite is expected to match |
dfb047b9 | 42 | the overall style of existing code. Modifications to existing |
ce14cc0b | 43 | code are expected to match the style the surrounding code already |
dfb047b9 NS |
44 | uses (even if it doesn't match the overall style of existing code). |
45 | ||
7a06a854 CG |
46 | But if you must have a list of rules, here are some language |
47 | specific ones. Note that Documentation/ToolsForGit.txt document | |
48 | has a collection of tips to help you use some external tools | |
49 | to conform to these guidelines. | |
6d0618a8 JS |
50 | |
51 | For shell scripts specifically (not exhaustive): | |
52 | ||
f36a4fa8 GB |
53 | - We use tabs for indentation. |
54 | ||
79fc3ca1 JH |
55 | - Case arms are indented at the same depth as case and esac lines, |
56 | like this: | |
57 | ||
58 | case "$variable" in | |
59 | pattern1) | |
60 | do this | |
61 | ;; | |
62 | pattern2) | |
63 | do that | |
64 | ;; | |
65 | esac | |
f36a4fa8 | 66 | |
48f359bf TH |
67 | - Redirection operators should be written with space before, but no |
68 | space after them. In other words, write 'echo test >"$file"' | |
69 | instead of 'echo test> $file' or 'echo test > $file'. Note that | |
70 | even though it is not required by POSIX to double-quote the | |
71 | redirection target in a variable (as shown above), our code does so | |
72 | because some versions of bash issue a warning without the quotes. | |
73 | ||
6a49909b JH |
74 | (incorrect) |
75 | cat hello > world < universe | |
76 | echo hello >$world | |
77 | ||
78 | (correct) | |
79 | cat hello >world <universe | |
80 | echo hello >"$world" | |
81 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
82 | - We prefer $( ... ) for command substitution; unlike ``, it |
83 | properly nests. It should have been the way Bourne spelled | |
84 | it from day one, but unfortunately isn't. | |
85 | ||
860f70f9 TH |
86 | - If you want to find out if a command is available on the user's |
87 | $PATH, you should use 'type <command>', instead of 'which <command>'. | |
031fd4b9 | 88 | The output of 'which' is not machine parsable and its exit code |
860f70f9 TH |
89 | is not reliable across platforms. |
90 | ||
bc979945 JH |
91 | - We use POSIX compliant parameter substitutions and avoid bashisms; |
92 | namely: | |
6d0618a8 | 93 | |
bc979945 JH |
94 | - We use ${parameter-word} and its [-=?+] siblings, and their |
95 | colon'ed "unset or null" form. | |
6d0618a8 | 96 | |
bc979945 JH |
97 | - We use ${parameter#word} and its [#%] siblings, and their |
98 | doubled "longest matching" form. | |
6d0618a8 | 99 | |
bc979945 | 100 | - No "Substring Expansion" ${parameter:offset:length}. |
055467dd | 101 | |
bc979945 | 102 | - No shell arrays. |
6d0618a8 | 103 | |
bc979945 | 104 | - No pattern replacement ${parameter/pattern/string}. |
6d0618a8 | 105 | |
bc979945 JH |
106 | - We use Arithmetic Expansion $(( ... )). |
107 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
108 | - We do not use Process Substitution <(list) or >(list). |
109 | ||
03b05c7d HV |
110 | - Do not write control structures on a single line with semicolon. |
111 | "then" should be on the next line for if statements, and "do" | |
112 | should be on the next line for "while" and "for". | |
113 | ||
9dbe7801 JH |
114 | (incorrect) |
115 | if test -f hello; then | |
116 | do this | |
117 | fi | |
118 | ||
119 | (correct) | |
120 | if test -f hello | |
121 | then | |
122 | do this | |
123 | fi | |
124 | ||
a378fee5 MD |
125 | - If a command sequence joined with && or || or | spans multiple |
126 | lines, put each command on a separate line and put && and || and | | |
127 | operators at the end of each line, rather than the start. This | |
128 | means you don't need to use \ to join lines, since the above | |
129 | operators imply the sequence isn't finished. | |
130 | ||
131 | (incorrect) | |
132 | grep blob verify_pack_result \ | |
133 | | awk -f print_1.awk \ | |
134 | | sort >actual && | |
135 | ... | |
136 | ||
137 | (correct) | |
138 | grep blob verify_pack_result | | |
139 | awk -f print_1.awk | | |
140 | sort >actual && | |
141 | ... | |
142 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
143 | - We prefer "test" over "[ ... ]". |
144 | ||
145 | - We do not write the noiseword "function" in front of shell | |
146 | functions. | |
147 | ||
6117a3d4 JH |
148 | - We prefer a space between the function name and the parentheses, |
149 | and no space inside the parentheses. The opening "{" should also | |
150 | be on the same line. | |
151 | ||
152 | (incorrect) | |
153 | my_function(){ | |
154 | ... | |
155 | ||
156 | (correct) | |
157 | my_function () { | |
158 | ... | |
03b05c7d | 159 | |
009c98ee | 160 | - As to use of grep, stick to a subset of BRE (namely, no \{m,n\}, |
a58088ab | 161 | [::], [==], or [..]) for portability. |
009c98ee JH |
162 | |
163 | - We do not use \{m,n\}; | |
164 | ||
a58088ab | 165 | - We do not use ? or + (which are \{0,1\} and \{1,\} |
009c98ee JH |
166 | respectively in BRE) but that goes without saying as these |
167 | are ERE elements not BRE (note that \? and \+ are not even part | |
168 | of BRE -- making them accessible from BRE is a GNU extension). | |
169 | ||
5e9637c6 ÆAB |
170 | - Use Git's gettext wrappers in git-sh-i18n to make the user |
171 | interface translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in | |
172 | po/README. | |
173 | ||
897f964c JH |
174 | - We do not write our "test" command with "-a" and "-o" and use "&&" |
175 | or "||" to concatenate multiple "test" commands instead, because | |
176 | the use of "-a/-o" is often error-prone. E.g. | |
177 | ||
178 | test -n "$x" -a "$a" = "$b" | |
179 | ||
180 | is buggy and breaks when $x is "=", but | |
181 | ||
182 | test -n "$x" && test "$a" = "$b" | |
183 | ||
184 | does not have such a problem. | |
185 | ||
a84fd3bc JH |
186 | - Even though "local" is not part of POSIX, we make heavy use of it |
187 | in our test suite. We do not use it in scripted Porcelains, and | |
188 | hopefully nobody starts using "local" before they are reimplemented | |
189 | in C ;-) | |
190 | ||
f0b68f05 JT |
191 | - Use octal escape sequences (e.g. "\302\242"), not hexadecimal (e.g. |
192 | "\xc2\xa2") in printf format strings, since hexadecimal escape | |
193 | sequences are not portable. | |
194 | ||
897f964c | 195 | |
6d0618a8 JS |
196 | For C programs: |
197 | ||
198 | - We use tabs to indent, and interpret tabs as taking up to | |
199 | 8 spaces. | |
200 | ||
201 | - We try to keep to at most 80 characters per line. | |
202 | ||
658df95a LS |
203 | - As a Git developer we assume you have a reasonably modern compiler |
204 | and we recommend you to enable the DEVELOPER makefile knob to | |
205 | ensure your patch is clear of all compiler warnings we care about, | |
206 | by e.g. "echo DEVELOPER=1 >>config.mak". | |
207 | ||
2de9b711 | 208 | - We try to support a wide range of C compilers to compile Git with, |
e88a2d02 ÆAB |
209 | including old ones. As of Git v2.35.0 Git requires C99 (we check |
210 | "__STDC_VERSION__"). You should not use features from a newer C | |
cc0c4297 | 211 | standard, even if your compiler groks them. |
a26fd033 | 212 | |
e88a2d02 ÆAB |
213 | New C99 features have been phased in gradually, if something's new |
214 | in C99 but not used yet don't assume that it's safe to use, some | |
215 | compilers we target have only partial support for it. These are | |
216 | considered safe to use: | |
cc0c4297 | 217 | |
442c27dd ÆAB |
218 | . since around 2007 with 2b6854c863a, we have been using |
219 | initializer elements which are not computable at load time. E.g.: | |
220 | ||
221 | const char *args[] = {"constant", variable, NULL}; | |
cc0c4297 JH |
222 | |
223 | . since early 2012 with e1327023ea, we have been using an enum | |
224 | definition whose last element is followed by a comma. This, like | |
225 | an array initializer that ends with a trailing comma, can be used | |
031fd4b9 | 226 | to reduce the patch noise when adding a new identifier at the end. |
cc0c4297 JH |
227 | |
228 | . since mid 2017 with cbc0f81d, we have been using designated | |
229 | initializers for struct (e.g. "struct t v = { .val = 'a' };"). | |
230 | ||
231 | . since mid 2017 with 512f41cf, we have been using designated | |
232 | initializers for array (e.g. "int array[10] = { [5] = 2 }"). | |
233 | ||
56a29d2c ÆAB |
234 | . since early 2021 with 765dc168882, we have been using variadic |
235 | macros, mostly for printf-like trace and debug macros. | |
236 | ||
82dd01d8 ÆAB |
237 | . since late 2021 with 44ba10d6, we have had variables declared in |
238 | the for loop "for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)". | |
cc0c4297 | 239 | |
d7d850e2 ÆAB |
240 | New C99 features that we cannot use yet: |
241 | ||
242 | . %z and %zu as a printf() argument for a size_t (the %z being for | |
243 | the POSIX-specific ssize_t). Instead you should use | |
244 | printf("%"PRIuMAX, (uintmax_t)v). These days the MSVC version we | |
245 | rely on supports %z, but the C library used by MinGW does not. | |
246 | ||
438c2f85 ÆAB |
247 | . Shorthand like ".a.b = *c" in struct initializations is known to |
248 | trip up an older IBM XLC version, use ".a = { .b = *c }" instead. | |
249 | See the 33665d98 (reftable: make assignments portable to AIX xlc | |
250 | v12.01, 2022-03-28). | |
cc0c4297 JH |
251 | |
252 | - Variables have to be declared at the beginning of the block, before | |
253 | the first statement (i.e. -Wdeclaration-after-statement). | |
254 | ||
a26fd033 AS |
255 | - NULL pointers shall be written as NULL, not as 0. |
256 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
257 | - When declaring pointers, the star sides with the variable |
258 | name, i.e. "char *string", not "char* string" or | |
259 | "char * string". This makes it easier to understand code | |
260 | like "char *string, c;". | |
261 | ||
f57b6cfd JK |
262 | - Use whitespace around operators and keywords, but not inside |
263 | parentheses and not around functions. So: | |
264 | ||
265 | while (condition) | |
266 | func(bar + 1); | |
267 | ||
268 | and not: | |
269 | ||
270 | while( condition ) | |
271 | func (bar+1); | |
272 | ||
5c7bb014 JH |
273 | - Do not explicitly compare an integral value with constant 0 or '\0', |
274 | or a pointer value with constant NULL. For instance, to validate that | |
275 | counted array <ptr, cnt> is initialized but has no elements, write: | |
276 | ||
277 | if (!ptr || cnt) | |
278 | BUG("empty array expected"); | |
279 | ||
280 | and not: | |
281 | ||
282 | if (ptr == NULL || cnt != 0); | |
283 | BUG("empty array expected"); | |
284 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
285 | - We avoid using braces unnecessarily. I.e. |
286 | ||
287 | if (bla) { | |
288 | x = 1; | |
289 | } | |
290 | ||
1797dc51 JK |
291 | is frowned upon. But there are a few exceptions: |
292 | ||
293 | - When the statement extends over a few lines (e.g., a while loop | |
294 | with an embedded conditional, or a comment). E.g.: | |
295 | ||
296 | while (foo) { | |
297 | if (x) | |
298 | one(); | |
299 | else | |
300 | two(); | |
301 | } | |
302 | ||
303 | if (foo) { | |
304 | /* | |
305 | * This one requires some explanation, | |
306 | * so we're better off with braces to make | |
307 | * it obvious that the indentation is correct. | |
308 | */ | |
309 | doit(); | |
310 | } | |
311 | ||
312 | - When there are multiple arms to a conditional and some of them | |
313 | require braces, enclose even a single line block in braces for | |
314 | consistency. E.g.: | |
315 | ||
316 | if (foo) { | |
317 | doit(); | |
318 | } else { | |
319 | one(); | |
320 | two(); | |
321 | three(); | |
322 | } | |
6d0618a8 | 323 | |
691d0dd0 | 324 | - We try to avoid assignments in the condition of an "if" statement. |
0b0b8cd7 | 325 | |
6d0618a8 JS |
326 | - Try to make your code understandable. You may put comments |
327 | in, but comments invariably tend to stale out when the code | |
328 | they were describing changes. Often splitting a function | |
329 | into two makes the intention of the code much clearer. | |
330 | ||
b75a6ca7 | 331 | - Multi-line comments include their delimiters on separate lines from |
332 | the text. E.g. | |
333 | ||
334 | /* | |
335 | * A very long | |
336 | * multi-line comment. | |
337 | */ | |
338 | ||
cbcfd4e3 JH |
339 | Note however that a comment that explains a translatable string to |
340 | translators uses a convention of starting with a magic token | |
66f5f6dc | 341 | "TRANSLATORS: ", e.g. |
cbcfd4e3 | 342 | |
66f5f6dc ÆAB |
343 | /* |
344 | * TRANSLATORS: here is a comment that explains the string to | |
345 | * be translated, that follows immediately after it. | |
346 | */ | |
cbcfd4e3 JH |
347 | _("Here is a translatable string explained by the above."); |
348 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
349 | - Double negation is often harder to understand than no negation |
350 | at all. | |
351 | ||
5db9ab82 JH |
352 | - There are two schools of thought when it comes to comparison, |
353 | especially inside a loop. Some people prefer to have the less stable | |
354 | value on the left hand side and the more stable value on the right hand | |
355 | side, e.g. if you have a loop that counts variable i down to the | |
356 | lower bound, | |
357 | ||
358 | while (i > lower_bound) { | |
359 | do something; | |
360 | i--; | |
361 | } | |
362 | ||
363 | Other people prefer to have the textual order of values match the | |
364 | actual order of values in their comparison, so that they can | |
365 | mentally draw a number line from left to right and place these | |
366 | values in order, i.e. | |
367 | ||
368 | while (lower_bound < i) { | |
369 | do something; | |
370 | i--; | |
371 | } | |
372 | ||
373 | Both are valid, and we use both. However, the more "stable" the | |
374 | stable side becomes, the more we tend to prefer the former | |
375 | (comparison with a constant, "i > 0", is an extreme example). | |
376 | Just do not mix styles in the same part of the code and mimic | |
377 | existing styles in the neighbourhood. | |
378 | ||
f26443da JH |
379 | - There are two schools of thought when it comes to splitting a long |
380 | logical line into multiple lines. Some people push the second and | |
381 | subsequent lines far enough to the right with tabs and align them: | |
382 | ||
383 | if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to || | |
384 | span_more_than_a_single_line_of || | |
385 | the_source_text) { | |
386 | ... | |
387 | ||
388 | while other people prefer to align the second and the subsequent | |
389 | lines with the column immediately inside the opening parenthesis, | |
390 | with tabs and spaces, following our "tabstop is always a multiple | |
391 | of 8" convention: | |
392 | ||
393 | if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to || | |
394 | span_more_than_a_single_line_of || | |
395 | the_source_text) { | |
396 | ... | |
397 | ||
398 | Both are valid, and we use both. Again, just do not mix styles in | |
399 | the same part of the code and mimic existing styles in the | |
400 | neighbourhood. | |
401 | ||
402 | - When splitting a long logical line, some people change line before | |
403 | a binary operator, so that the result looks like a parse tree when | |
404 | you turn your head 90-degrees counterclockwise: | |
405 | ||
406 | if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to | |
407 | || span_more_than_a_single_line_of_the_source_text) { | |
408 | ||
409 | while other people prefer to leave the operator at the end of the | |
410 | line: | |
411 | ||
412 | if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to || | |
413 | span_more_than_a_single_line_of_the_source_text) { | |
414 | ||
415 | Both are valid, but we tend to use the latter more, unless the | |
416 | expression gets fairly complex, in which case the former tends to | |
417 | be easier to read. Again, just do not mix styles in the same part | |
418 | of the code and mimic existing styles in the neighbourhood. | |
419 | ||
420 | - When splitting a long logical line, with everything else being | |
421 | equal, it is preferable to split after the operator at higher | |
422 | level in the parse tree. That is, this is more preferable: | |
423 | ||
424 | if (a_very_long_variable * that_is_used_in + | |
425 | a_very_long_expression) { | |
426 | ... | |
427 | ||
428 | than | |
429 | ||
430 | if (a_very_long_variable * | |
431 | that_is_used_in + a_very_long_expression) { | |
432 | ... | |
433 | ||
6d0618a8 JS |
434 | - Some clever tricks, like using the !! operator with arithmetic |
435 | constructs, can be extremely confusing to others. Avoid them, | |
436 | unless there is a compelling reason to use them. | |
437 | ||
438 | - Use the API. No, really. We have a strbuf (variable length | |
439 | string), several arrays with the ALLOC_GROW() macro, a | |
c455c87c | 440 | string_list for sorted string lists, a hash map (mapping struct |
6d0618a8 JS |
441 | objects) named "struct decorate", amongst other things. |
442 | ||
d9f079ad JH |
443 | - When you come up with an API, document its functions and structures |
444 | in the header file that exposes the API to its callers. Use what is | |
445 | in "strbuf.h" as a model for the appropriate tone and level of | |
446 | detail. | |
6d0618a8 | 447 | |
412cb2ec | 448 | - The first #include in C files, except in platform specific compat/ |
8bff5ca0 EN |
449 | implementations and sha1dc/, must be either "git-compat-util.h" or |
450 | one of the approved headers that includes it first for you. (The | |
bc5c5ec0 | 451 | approved headers currently include "builtin.h", |
8bff5ca0 EN |
452 | "t/helper/test-tool.h", "xdiff/xinclude.h", or |
453 | "reftable/system.h"). You do not have to include more than one of | |
454 | these. | |
412cb2ec JH |
455 | |
456 | - A C file must directly include the header files that declare the | |
457 | functions and the types it uses, except for the functions and types | |
458 | that are made available to it by including one of the header files | |
459 | it must include by the previous rule. | |
6d0618a8 JS |
460 | |
461 | - If you are planning a new command, consider writing it in shell | |
462 | or perl first, so that changes in semantics can be easily | |
2de9b711 | 463 | changed and discussed. Many Git commands started out like |
6d0618a8 JS |
464 | that, and a few are still scripts. |
465 | ||
2de9b711 | 466 | - Avoid introducing a new dependency into Git. This means you |
6d0618a8 | 467 | usually should stay away from scripting languages not already |
2de9b711 | 468 | used in the Git core command set (unless your command is clearly |
6d0618a8 | 469 | separate from it, such as an importer to convert random-scm-X |
2de9b711 | 470 | repositories to Git). |
57199892 KB |
471 | |
472 | - When we pass <string, length> pair to functions, we should try to | |
473 | pass them in that order. | |
c455bd89 | 474 | |
5e9637c6 ÆAB |
475 | - Use Git's gettext wrappers to make the user interface |
476 | translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in po/README. | |
477 | ||
89a9f2c8 JK |
478 | - Variables and functions local to a given source file should be marked |
479 | with "static". Variables that are visible to other source files | |
480 | must be declared with "extern" in header files. However, function | |
481 | declarations should not use "extern", as that is already the default. | |
482 | ||
f547101b ES |
483 | - You can launch gdb around your program using the shorthand GIT_DEBUGGER. |
484 | Run `GIT_DEBUGGER=1 ./bin-wrappers/git foo` to simply use gdb as is, or | |
485 | run `GIT_DEBUGGER="<debugger> <debugger-args>" ./bin-wrappers/git foo` to | |
486 | use your own debugger and arguments. Example: `GIT_DEBUGGER="ddd --gdb" | |
487 | ./bin-wrappers/git log` (See `wrap-for-bin.sh`.) | |
488 | ||
c5e366b1 TZ |
489 | For Perl programs: |
490 | ||
491 | - Most of the C guidelines above apply. | |
492 | ||
d13a73e3 | 493 | - We try to support Perl 5.8.1 and later ("use Perl 5.008001"). |
c5e366b1 TZ |
494 | |
495 | - use strict and use warnings are strongly preferred. | |
496 | ||
497 | - Don't overuse statement modifiers unless using them makes the | |
498 | result easier to follow. | |
499 | ||
500 | ... do something ... | |
501 | do_this() unless (condition); | |
502 | ... do something else ... | |
503 | ||
504 | is more readable than: | |
505 | ||
506 | ... do something ... | |
507 | unless (condition) { | |
508 | do_this(); | |
509 | } | |
510 | ... do something else ... | |
511 | ||
512 | *only* when the condition is so rare that do_this() will be almost | |
513 | always called. | |
514 | ||
515 | - We try to avoid assignments inside "if ()" conditions. | |
516 | ||
517 | - Learn and use Git.pm if you need that functionality. | |
518 | ||
9ef43dd7 JK |
519 | For Python scripts: |
520 | ||
65175d9e | 521 | - We follow PEP-8 (https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/). |
9ef43dd7 | 522 | |
45a87a83 | 523 | - As a minimum, we aim to be compatible with Python 2.7. |
9ef43dd7 JK |
524 | |
525 | - Where required libraries do not restrict us to Python 2, we try to | |
526 | also be compatible with Python 3.1 and later. | |
527 | ||
e258eb48 ES |
528 | |
529 | Program Output | |
530 | ||
531 | We make a distinction between a Git command's primary output and | |
532 | output which is merely chatty feedback (for instance, status | |
533 | messages, running transcript, or progress display), as well as error | |
534 | messages. Roughly speaking, a Git command's primary output is that | |
535 | which one might want to capture to a file or send down a pipe; its | |
536 | chatty output should not interfere with these use-cases. | |
537 | ||
538 | As such, primary output should be sent to the standard output stream | |
539 | (stdout), and chatty output should be sent to the standard error | |
540 | stream (stderr). Examples of commands which produce primary output | |
541 | include `git log`, `git show`, and `git branch --list` which generate | |
542 | output on the stdout stream. | |
543 | ||
544 | Not all Git commands have primary output; this is often true of | |
545 | commands whose main function is to perform an action. Some action | |
546 | commands are silent, whereas others are chatty. An example of a | |
547 | chatty action commands is `git clone` with its "Cloning into | |
548 | '<path>'..." and "Checking connectivity..." status messages which it | |
549 | sends to the stderr stream. | |
550 | ||
551 | Error messages from Git commands should always be sent to the stderr | |
552 | stream. | |
553 | ||
554 | ||
0ae0e882 PO |
555 | Error Messages |
556 | ||
557 | - Do not end error messages with a full stop. | |
558 | ||
151b6c2d JH |
559 | - Do not capitalize the first word, only because it is the first word |
560 | in the message ("unable to open %s", not "Unable to open %s"). But | |
561 | "SHA-3 not supported" is fine, because the reason the first word is | |
562 | capitalized is not because it is at the beginning of the sentence, | |
563 | but because the word would be spelled in capital letters even when | |
564 | it appeared in the middle of the sentence. | |
0ae0e882 PO |
565 | |
566 | - Say what the error is first ("cannot open %s", not "%s: cannot open") | |
567 | ||
568 | ||
35840a3e JH |
569 | Externally Visible Names |
570 | ||
571 | - For configuration variable names, follow the existing convention: | |
572 | ||
573 | . The section name indicates the affected subsystem. | |
574 | ||
575 | . The subsection name, if any, indicates which of an unbounded set | |
576 | of things to set the value for. | |
577 | ||
578 | . The variable name describes the effect of tweaking this knob. | |
579 | ||
580 | The section and variable names that consist of multiple words are | |
581 | formed by concatenating the words without punctuations (e.g. `-`), | |
582 | and are broken using bumpyCaps in documentation as a hint to the | |
583 | reader. | |
584 | ||
585 | When choosing the variable namespace, do not use variable name for | |
586 | specifying possibly unbounded set of things, most notably anything | |
587 | an end user can freely come up with (e.g. branch names). Instead, | |
588 | use subsection names or variable values, like the existing variable | |
589 | branch.<name>.description does. | |
590 | ||
591 | ||
c455bd89 ŠN |
592 | Writing Documentation: |
593 | ||
48bc1755 DW |
594 | Most (if not all) of the documentation pages are written in the |
595 | AsciiDoc format in *.txt files (e.g. Documentation/git.txt), and | |
596 | processed into HTML and manpages (e.g. git.html and git.1 in the | |
597 | same directory). | |
bb9f2aec | 598 | |
42e0fae9 MB |
599 | The documentation liberally mixes US and UK English (en_US/UK) |
600 | norms for spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate. | |
601 | In an ideal world, it would have been better if it consistently | |
602 | used only one and not the other, and we would have picked en_US | |
603 | (if you wish to correct the English of some of the existing | |
604 | documentation, please see the documentation-related advice in the | |
605 | Documentation/SubmittingPatches file). | |
606 | ||
5b1cd37e JH |
607 | In order to ensure the documentation is inclusive, avoid assuming |
608 | that an unspecified example person is male or female, and think | |
609 | twice before using "he", "him", "she", or "her". Here are some | |
610 | tips to avoid use of gendered pronouns: | |
611 | ||
612 | - Prefer succinctness and matter-of-factly describing functionality | |
613 | in the abstract. E.g. | |
614 | ||
615 | --short:: Emit output in the short-format. | |
616 | ||
617 | and avoid something like these overly verbose alternatives: | |
618 | ||
619 | --short:: Use this to emit output in the short-format. | |
620 | --short:: You can use this to get output in the short-format. | |
621 | --short:: A user who prefers shorter output could.... | |
622 | --short:: Should a person and/or program want shorter output, he | |
623 | she/they/it can... | |
624 | ||
625 | This practice often eliminates the need to involve human actors in | |
626 | your description, but it is a good practice regardless of the | |
627 | avoidance of gendered pronouns. | |
628 | ||
629 | - When it becomes awkward to stick to this style, prefer "you" when | |
c9dba103 | 630 | addressing the hypothetical user, and possibly "we" when |
5b1cd37e JH |
631 | discussing how the program might react to the user. E.g. |
632 | ||
633 | You can use this option instead of --xyz, but we might remove | |
634 | support for it in future versions. | |
635 | ||
636 | while keeping in mind that you can probably be less verbose, e.g. | |
637 | ||
638 | Use this instead of --xyz. This option might be removed in future | |
639 | versions. | |
640 | ||
641 | - If you still need to refer to an example person that is | |
642 | third-person singular, you may resort to "singular they" to avoid | |
643 | "he/she/him/her", e.g. | |
644 | ||
645 | A contributor asks their upstream to pull from them. | |
646 | ||
647 | Note that this sounds ungrammatical and unnatural to those who | |
648 | learned that "they" is only used for third-person plural, e.g. | |
649 | those who learn English as a second language in some parts of the | |
650 | world. | |
651 | ||
c455bd89 ŠN |
652 | Every user-visible change should be reflected in the documentation. |
653 | The same general rule as for code applies -- imitate the existing | |
ca03c368 JSJ |
654 | conventions. |
655 | ||
656 | A few commented examples follow to provide reference when writing or | |
657 | modifying command usage strings and synopsis sections in the manual | |
658 | pages: | |
c455bd89 | 659 | |
b1afe49d | 660 | Placeholders are spelled in lowercase and enclosed in angle brackets: |
c455bd89 ŠN |
661 | <file> |
662 | --sort=<key> | |
663 | --abbrev[=<n>] | |
664 | ||
9c9b4f2f AH |
665 | If a placeholder has multiple words, they are separated by dashes: |
666 | <new-branch-name> | |
667 | --template=<template-directory> | |
668 | ||
469bfc96 | 669 | Possibility of multiple occurrences is indicated by three dots: |
c455bd89 ŠN |
670 | <file>... |
671 | (One or more of <file>.) | |
672 | ||
673 | Optional parts are enclosed in square brackets: | |
6584fcc5 ÆAB |
674 | [<file>...] |
675 | (Zero or more of <file>.) | |
c455bd89 ŠN |
676 | |
677 | --exec-path[=<path>] | |
678 | (Option with an optional argument. Note that the "=" is inside the | |
679 | brackets.) | |
680 | ||
681 | [<patch>...] | |
682 | (Zero or more of <patch>. Note that the dots are inside, not | |
683 | outside the brackets.) | |
684 | ||
9c9b4f2f | 685 | Multiple alternatives are indicated with vertical bars: |
c455bd89 ŠN |
686 | [-q | --quiet] |
687 | [--utf8 | --no-utf8] | |
688 | ||
6584fcc5 ÆAB |
689 | Use spacing around "|" token(s), but not immediately after opening or |
690 | before closing a [] or () pair: | |
691 | Do: [-q | --quiet] | |
692 | Don't: [-q|--quiet] | |
693 | ||
548afb0d | 694 | Don't use spacing around "|" tokens when they're used to separate the |
6584fcc5 ÆAB |
695 | alternate arguments of an option: |
696 | Do: --track[=(direct|inherit)] | |
697 | Don't: --track[=(direct | inherit)] | |
698 | ||
c455bd89 | 699 | Parentheses are used for grouping: |
9c9b4f2f | 700 | [(<rev> | <range>)...] |
c455bd89 ŠN |
701 | (Any number of either <rev> or <range>. Parens are needed to make |
702 | it clear that "..." pertains to both <rev> and <range>.) | |
703 | ||
704 | [(-p <parent>)...] | |
705 | (Any number of option -p, each with one <parent> argument.) | |
706 | ||
707 | git remote set-head <name> (-a | -d | <branch>) | |
708 | (One and only one of "-a", "-d" or "<branch>" _must_ (no square | |
709 | brackets) be provided.) | |
710 | ||
711 | And a somewhat more contrived example: | |
712 | --diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]] | |
713 | Here "=" is outside the brackets, because "--diff-filter=" is a | |
714 | valid usage. "*" has its own pair of brackets, because it can | |
715 | (optionally) be specified only when one or more of the letters is | |
716 | also provided. | |
48a8c26c TA |
717 | |
718 | A note on notation: | |
719 | Use 'git' (all lowercase) when talking about commands i.e. something | |
720 | the user would type into a shell and use 'Git' (uppercase first letter) | |
721 | when talking about the version control system and its properties. | |
ca03c368 JSJ |
722 | |
723 | A few commented examples follow to provide reference when writing or | |
724 | modifying paragraphs or option/command explanations that contain options | |
725 | or commands: | |
726 | ||
41f5b21f | 727 | Literal examples (e.g. use of command-line options, command names, |
0dbd305f CB |
728 | branch names, URLs, pathnames (files and directories), configuration and |
729 | environment variables) must be typeset in monospace (i.e. wrapped with | |
730 | backticks): | |
ca03c368 JSJ |
731 | `--pretty=oneline` |
732 | `git rev-list` | |
da0005b8 | 733 | `remote.pushDefault` |
0dbd305f CB |
734 | `http://git.example.com` |
735 | `.git/config` | |
41f5b21f | 736 | `GIT_DIR` |
57103dbf | 737 | `HEAD` |
41f5b21f TR |
738 | |
739 | An environment variable must be prefixed with "$" only when referring to its | |
740 | value and not when referring to the variable itself, in this case there is | |
741 | nothing to add except the backticks: | |
742 | `GIT_DIR` is specified | |
743 | `$GIT_DIR/hooks/pre-receive` | |
ca03c368 JSJ |
744 | |
745 | Word phrases enclosed in `backtick characters` are rendered literally | |
746 | and will not be further expanded. The use of `backticks` to achieve the | |
747 | previous rule means that literal examples should not use AsciiDoc | |
748 | escapes. | |
749 | Correct: | |
750 | `--pretty=oneline` | |
751 | Incorrect: | |
752 | `\--pretty=oneline` | |
753 | ||
754 | If some place in the documentation needs to typeset a command usage | |
755 | example with inline substitutions, it is fine to use +monospaced and | |
756 | inline substituted text+ instead of `monospaced literal text`, and with | |
757 | the former, the part that should not get substituted must be | |
758 | quoted/escaped. |