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-Like other projects, we also have some guidelines to keep to the
-code.  For Git in general, a few rough rules are:
-
- - Most importantly, we never say "It's in POSIX; we'll happily
-   ignore your needs should your system not conform to it."
-   We live in the real world.
-
- - However, we often say "Let's stay away from that construct,
-   it's not even in POSIX".
-
- - In spite of the above two rules, we sometimes say "Although
-   this is not in POSIX, it (is so convenient | makes the code
-   much more readable | has other good characteristics) and
-   practically all the platforms we care about support it, so
-   let's use it".
-
-   Again, we live in the real world, and it is sometimes a
-   judgement call, the decision based more on real world
-   constraints people face than what the paper standard says.
-
- - Fixing style violations while working on a real change as a
-   preparatory clean-up step is good, but otherwise avoid useless code
-   churn for the sake of conforming to the style.
-
-   "Once it _is_ in the tree, it's not really worth the patch noise to
-   go and fix it up."
-   Cf. http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1001.3/01069.html
-
-Make your code readable and sensible, and don't try to be clever.
-
-As for more concrete guidelines, just imitate the existing code
-(this is a good guideline, no matter which project you are
-contributing to). It is always preferable to match the _local_
-convention. New code added to Git suite is expected to match
-the overall style of existing code. Modifications to existing
-code is expected to match the style the surrounding code already
-uses (even if it doesn't match the overall style of existing code).
-
-But if you must have a list of rules, here they are.
-
-For shell scripts specifically (not exhaustive):
-
- - We use tabs for indentation.
-
- - Case arms are indented at the same depth as case and esac lines,
-   like this:
-
-	case "$variable" in
-	pattern1)
-		do this
-		;;
-	pattern2)
-		do that
-		;;
-	esac
-
- - Redirection operators should be written with space before, but no
-   space after them.  In other words, write 'echo test >"$file"'
-   instead of 'echo test> $file' or 'echo test > $file'.  Note that
-   even though it is not required by POSIX to double-quote the
-   redirection target in a variable (as shown above), our code does so
-   because some versions of bash issue a warning without the quotes.
-
-	(incorrect)
-	cat hello > world < universe
-	echo hello >$world
-
-	(correct)
-	cat hello >world <universe
-	echo hello >"$world"
-
- - We prefer $( ... ) for command substitution; unlike ``, it
-   properly nests.  It should have been the way Bourne spelled
-   it from day one, but unfortunately isn't.
-
- - If you want to find out if a command is available on the user's
-   $PATH, you should use 'type <command>', instead of 'which <command>'.
-   The output of 'which' is not machine parseable and its exit code
-   is not reliable across platforms.
-
- - We use POSIX compliant parameter substitutions and avoid bashisms;
-   namely:
-
-   - We use ${parameter-word} and its [-=?+] siblings, and their
-     colon'ed "unset or null" form.
-
-   - We use ${parameter#word} and its [#%] siblings, and their
-     doubled "longest matching" form.
-
-   - No "Substring Expansion" ${parameter:offset:length}.
-
-   - No shell arrays.
-
-   - No strlen ${#parameter}.
-
-   - No pattern replacement ${parameter/pattern/string}.
-
- - We use Arithmetic Expansion $(( ... )).
-
- - Inside Arithmetic Expansion, spell shell variables with $ in front
-   of them, as some shells do not grok $((x)) while accepting $(($x))
-   just fine (e.g. dash older than 0.5.4).
-
- - We do not use Process Substitution <(list) or >(list).
-
- - Do not write control structures on a single line with semicolon.
-   "then" should be on the next line for if statements, and "do"
-   should be on the next line for "while" and "for".
-
-	(incorrect)
-	if test -f hello; then
-		do this
-	fi
-
-	(correct)
-	if test -f hello
-	then
-		do this
-	fi
-
- - If a command sequence joined with && or || or | spans multiple
-   lines, put each command on a separate line and put && and || and |
-   operators at the end of each line, rather than the start. This
-   means you don't need to use \ to join lines, since the above
-   operators imply the sequence isn't finished.
-
-	(incorrect)
-	grep blob verify_pack_result \
-	| awk -f print_1.awk \
-	| sort >actual &&
-	...
-
-	(correct)
-	grep blob verify_pack_result |
-	awk -f print_1.awk |
-	sort >actual &&
-	...
-
- - We prefer "test" over "[ ... ]".
-
- - We do not write the noiseword "function" in front of shell
-   functions.
-
- - We prefer a space between the function name and the parentheses,
-   and no space inside the parentheses. The opening "{" should also
-   be on the same line.
-
-	(incorrect)
-	my_function(){
-		...
-
-	(correct)
-	my_function () {
-		...
-
- - As to use of grep, stick to a subset of BRE (namely, no \{m,n\},
-   [::], [==], or [..]) for portability.
-
-   - We do not use \{m,n\};
-
-   - We do not use -E;
-
-   - We do not use ? or + (which are \{0,1\} and \{1,\}
-     respectively in BRE) but that goes without saying as these
-     are ERE elements not BRE (note that \? and \+ are not even part
-     of BRE -- making them accessible from BRE is a GNU extension).
-
- - Use Git's gettext wrappers in git-sh-i18n to make the user
-   interface translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in
-   po/README.
-
- - We do not write our "test" command with "-a" and "-o" and use "&&"
-   or "||" to concatenate multiple "test" commands instead, because
-   the use of "-a/-o" is often error-prone.  E.g.
-
-     test -n "$x" -a "$a" = "$b"
-
-   is buggy and breaks when $x is "=", but
-
-     test -n "$x" && test "$a" = "$b"
-
-   does not have such a problem.
-
-
-For C programs:
-
- - We use tabs to indent, and interpret tabs as taking up to
-   8 spaces.
-
- - We try to keep to at most 80 characters per line.
-
- - As a Git developer we assume you have a reasonably modern compiler
-   and we recommend you to enable the DEVELOPER makefile knob to
-   ensure your patch is clear of all compiler warnings we care about,
-   by e.g. "echo DEVELOPER=1 >>config.mak".
-
- - We try to support a wide range of C compilers to compile Git with,
-   including old ones.  You should not use features from newer C
-   standard, even if your compiler groks them.
-
-   There are a few exceptions to this guideline:
-
-   . since early 2012 with e1327023ea, we have been using an enum
-     definition whose last element is followed by a comma.  This, like
-     an array initializer that ends with a trailing comma, can be used
-     to reduce the patch noise when adding a new identifer at the end.
-
-   . since mid 2017 with cbc0f81d, we have been using designated
-     initializers for struct (e.g. "struct t v = { .val = 'a' };").
-
-   . since mid 2017 with 512f41cf, we have been using designated
-     initializers for array (e.g. "int array[10] = { [5] = 2 }").
-
-   These used to be forbidden, but we have not heard any breakage
-   report, and they are assumed to be safe.
-
- - Variables have to be declared at the beginning of the block, before
-   the first statement (i.e. -Wdeclaration-after-statement).
-
- - Declaring a variable in the for loop "for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)"
-   is still not allowed in this codebase.
-
- - NULL pointers shall be written as NULL, not as 0.
-
- - When declaring pointers, the star sides with the variable
-   name, i.e. "char *string", not "char* string" or
-   "char * string".  This makes it easier to understand code
-   like "char *string, c;".
-
- - Use whitespace around operators and keywords, but not inside
-   parentheses and not around functions. So:
-
-        while (condition)
-		func(bar + 1);
-
-   and not:
-
-        while( condition )
-		func (bar+1);
-
- - We avoid using braces unnecessarily.  I.e.
-
-	if (bla) {
-		x = 1;
-	}
-
-   is frowned upon. But there are a few exceptions:
-
-	- When the statement extends over a few lines (e.g., a while loop
-	  with an embedded conditional, or a comment). E.g.:
-
-		while (foo) {
-			if (x)
-				one();
-			else
-				two();
-		}
-
-		if (foo) {
-			/*
-			 * This one requires some explanation,
-			 * so we're better off with braces to make
-			 * it obvious that the indentation is correct.
-			 */
-			doit();
-		}
-
-	- When there are multiple arms to a conditional and some of them
-	  require braces, enclose even a single line block in braces for
-	  consistency. E.g.:
-
-		if (foo) {
-			doit();
-		} else {
-			one();
-			two();
-			three();
-		}
-
- - We try to avoid assignments in the condition of an "if" statement.
-
- - Try to make your code understandable.  You may put comments
-   in, but comments invariably tend to stale out when the code
-   they were describing changes.  Often splitting a function
-   into two makes the intention of the code much clearer.
-
- - Multi-line comments include their delimiters on separate lines from
-   the text.  E.g.
-
-	/*
-	 * A very long
-	 * multi-line comment.
-	 */
-
-   Note however that a comment that explains a translatable string to
-   translators uses a convention of starting with a magic token
-   "TRANSLATORS: ", e.g.
-
-	/*
-	 * TRANSLATORS: here is a comment that explains the string to
-	 * be translated, that follows immediately after it.
-	 */
-	_("Here is a translatable string explained by the above.");
-
- - Double negation is often harder to understand than no negation
-   at all.
-
- - There are two schools of thought when it comes to comparison,
-   especially inside a loop. Some people prefer to have the less stable
-   value on the left hand side and the more stable value on the right hand
-   side, e.g. if you have a loop that counts variable i down to the
-   lower bound,
-
-	while (i > lower_bound) {
-		do something;
-		i--;
-	}
-
-   Other people prefer to have the textual order of values match the
-   actual order of values in their comparison, so that they can
-   mentally draw a number line from left to right and place these
-   values in order, i.e.
-
-	while (lower_bound < i) {
-		do something;
-		i--;
-	}
-
-   Both are valid, and we use both.  However, the more "stable" the
-   stable side becomes, the more we tend to prefer the former
-   (comparison with a constant, "i > 0", is an extreme example).
-   Just do not mix styles in the same part of the code and mimic
-   existing styles in the neighbourhood.
-
- - There are two schools of thought when it comes to splitting a long
-   logical line into multiple lines.  Some people push the second and
-   subsequent lines far enough to the right with tabs and align them:
-
-        if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to ||
-		span_more_than_a_single_line_of ||
-		the_source_text) {
-                ...
-
-   while other people prefer to align the second and the subsequent
-   lines with the column immediately inside the opening parenthesis,
-   with tabs and spaces, following our "tabstop is always a multiple
-   of 8" convention:
-
-        if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to ||
-	    span_more_than_a_single_line_of ||
-	    the_source_text) {
-                ...
-
-   Both are valid, and we use both.  Again, just do not mix styles in
-   the same part of the code and mimic existing styles in the
-   neighbourhood.
-
- - When splitting a long logical line, some people change line before
-   a binary operator, so that the result looks like a parse tree when
-   you turn your head 90-degrees counterclockwise:
-
-        if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to
-	    || span_more_than_a_single_line_of_the_source_text) {
-
-   while other people prefer to leave the operator at the end of the
-   line:
-
-        if (the_beginning_of_a_very_long_expression_that_has_to ||
-	    span_more_than_a_single_line_of_the_source_text) {
-
-   Both are valid, but we tend to use the latter more, unless the
-   expression gets fairly complex, in which case the former tends to
-   be easier to read.  Again, just do not mix styles in the same part
-   of the code and mimic existing styles in the neighbourhood.
-
- - When splitting a long logical line, with everything else being
-   equal, it is preferable to split after the operator at higher
-   level in the parse tree.  That is, this is more preferable:
-
-	if (a_very_long_variable * that_is_used_in +
-	    a_very_long_expression) {
-		...
-
-   than
-
-	if (a_very_long_variable *
-	    that_is_used_in + a_very_long_expression) {
-		...
-
- - Some clever tricks, like using the !! operator with arithmetic
-   constructs, can be extremely confusing to others.  Avoid them,
-   unless there is a compelling reason to use them.
-
- - Use the API.  No, really.  We have a strbuf (variable length
-   string), several arrays with the ALLOC_GROW() macro, a
-   string_list for sorted string lists, a hash map (mapping struct
-   objects) named "struct decorate", amongst other things.
-
- - When you come up with an API, document its functions and structures
-   in the header file that exposes the API to its callers. Use what is
-   in "strbuf.h" as a model for the appropriate tone and level of
-   detail.
-
- - The first #include in C files, except in platform specific compat/
-   implementations, must be either "git-compat-util.h", "cache.h" or
-   "builtin.h".  You do not have to include more than one of these.
-
- - A C file must directly include the header files that declare the
-   functions and the types it uses, except for the functions and types
-   that are made available to it by including one of the header files
-   it must include by the previous rule.
-
- - If you are planning a new command, consider writing it in shell
-   or perl first, so that changes in semantics can be easily
-   changed and discussed.  Many Git commands started out like
-   that, and a few are still scripts.
-
- - Avoid introducing a new dependency into Git. This means you
-   usually should stay away from scripting languages not already
-   used in the Git core command set (unless your command is clearly
-   separate from it, such as an importer to convert random-scm-X
-   repositories to Git).
-
- - When we pass <string, length> pair to functions, we should try to
-   pass them in that order.
-
- - Use Git's gettext wrappers to make the user interface
-   translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in po/README.
-
- - Variables and functions local to a given source file should be marked
-   with "static". Variables that are visible to other source files
-   must be declared with "extern" in header files. However, function
-   declarations should not use "extern", as that is already the default.
-
- - You can launch gdb around your program using the shorthand GIT_DEBUGGER.
-   Run `GIT_DEBUGGER=1 ./bin-wrappers/git foo` to simply use gdb as is, or
-   run `GIT_DEBUGGER="<debugger> <debugger-args>" ./bin-wrappers/git foo` to
-   use your own debugger and arguments. Example: `GIT_DEBUGGER="ddd --gdb"
-   ./bin-wrappers/git log` (See `wrap-for-bin.sh`.)
-
-For Perl programs:
-
- - Most of the C guidelines above apply.
-
- - We try to support Perl 5.8 and later ("use Perl 5.008").
-
- - use strict and use warnings are strongly preferred.
-
- - Don't overuse statement modifiers unless using them makes the
-   result easier to follow.
-
-	... do something ...
-	do_this() unless (condition);
-        ... do something else ...
-
-   is more readable than:
-
-	... do something ...
-	unless (condition) {
-		do_this();
-	}
-        ... do something else ...
-
-   *only* when the condition is so rare that do_this() will be almost
-   always called.
-
- - We try to avoid assignments inside "if ()" conditions.
-
- - Learn and use Git.pm if you need that functionality.
-
- - For Emacs, it's useful to put the following in
-   GIT_CHECKOUT/.dir-locals.el, assuming you use cperl-mode:
-
-    ;; note the first part is useful for C editing, too
-    ((nil . ((indent-tabs-mode . t)
-                  (tab-width . 8)
-                  (fill-column . 80)))
-     (cperl-mode . ((cperl-indent-level . 8)
-                    (cperl-extra-newline-before-brace . nil)
-                    (cperl-merge-trailing-else . t))))
-
-For Python scripts:
-
- - We follow PEP-8 (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/).
-
- - As a minimum, we aim to be compatible with Python 2.6 and 2.7.
-
- - Where required libraries do not restrict us to Python 2, we try to
-   also be compatible with Python 3.1 and later.
-
- - When you must differentiate between Unicode literals and byte string
-   literals, it is OK to use the 'b' prefix.  Even though the Python
-   documentation for version 2.6 does not mention this prefix, it has
-   been supported since version 2.6.0.
-
-Error Messages
-
- - Do not end error messages with a full stop.
-
- - Do not capitalize ("unable to open %s", not "Unable to open %s")
-
- - Say what the error is first ("cannot open %s", not "%s: cannot open")
-
-
-Externally Visible Names
-
- - For configuration variable names, follow the existing convention:
-
-   . The section name indicates the affected subsystem.
-
-   . The subsection name, if any, indicates which of an unbounded set
-     of things to set the value for.
-
-   . The variable name describes the effect of tweaking this knob.
-
-   The section and variable names that consist of multiple words are
-   formed by concatenating the words without punctuations (e.g. `-`),
-   and are broken using bumpyCaps in documentation as a hint to the
-   reader.
-
-   When choosing the variable namespace, do not use variable name for
-   specifying possibly unbounded set of things, most notably anything
-   an end user can freely come up with (e.g. branch names).  Instead,
-   use subsection names or variable values, like the existing variable
-   branch.<name>.description does.
-
-
-Writing Documentation:
-
- Most (if not all) of the documentation pages are written in the
- AsciiDoc format in *.txt files (e.g. Documentation/git.txt), and
- processed into HTML and manpages (e.g. git.html and git.1 in the
- same directory).
-
- The documentation liberally mixes US and UK English (en_US/UK)
- norms for spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate.
- In an ideal world, it would have been better if it consistently
- used only one and not the other, and we would have picked en_US
- (if you wish to correct the English of some of the existing
- documentation, please see the documentation-related advice in the
- Documentation/SubmittingPatches file).
-
- Every user-visible change should be reflected in the documentation.
- The same general rule as for code applies -- imitate the existing
- conventions.
-
- A few commented examples follow to provide reference when writing or
- modifying command usage strings and synopsis sections in the manual
- pages:
-
- Placeholders are spelled in lowercase and enclosed in angle brackets:
-   <file>
-   --sort=<key>
-   --abbrev[=<n>]
-
- If a placeholder has multiple words, they are separated by dashes:
-   <new-branch-name>
-   --template=<template-directory>
-
- Possibility of multiple occurrences is indicated by three dots:
-   <file>...
-   (One or more of <file>.)
-
- Optional parts are enclosed in square brackets:
-   [<extra>]
-   (Zero or one <extra>.)
-
-   --exec-path[=<path>]
-   (Option with an optional argument.  Note that the "=" is inside the
-   brackets.)
-
-   [<patch>...]
-   (Zero or more of <patch>.  Note that the dots are inside, not
-   outside the brackets.)
-
- Multiple alternatives are indicated with vertical bars:
-   [-q | --quiet]
-   [--utf8 | --no-utf8]
-
- Parentheses are used for grouping:
-   [(<rev> | <range>)...]
-   (Any number of either <rev> or <range>.  Parens are needed to make
-   it clear that "..." pertains to both <rev> and <range>.)
-
-   [(-p <parent>)...]
-   (Any number of option -p, each with one <parent> argument.)
-
-   git remote set-head <name> (-a | -d | <branch>)
-   (One and only one of "-a", "-d" or "<branch>" _must_ (no square
-   brackets) be provided.)
-
- And a somewhat more contrived example:
-   --diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]
-   Here "=" is outside the brackets, because "--diff-filter=" is a
-   valid usage.  "*" has its own pair of brackets, because it can
-   (optionally) be specified only when one or more of the letters is
-   also provided.
-
-  A note on notation:
-   Use 'git' (all lowercase) when talking about commands i.e. something
-   the user would type into a shell and use 'Git' (uppercase first letter)
-   when talking about the version control system and its properties.
-
- A few commented examples follow to provide reference when writing or
- modifying paragraphs or option/command explanations that contain options
- or commands:
-
- Literal examples (e.g. use of command-line options, command names,
- branch names, URLs, pathnames (files and directories), configuration and
- environment variables) must be typeset in monospace (i.e. wrapped with
- backticks):
-   `--pretty=oneline`
-   `git rev-list`
-   `remote.pushDefault`
-   `http://git.example.com`
-   `.git/config`
-   `GIT_DIR`
-   `HEAD`
-
- An environment variable must be prefixed with "$" only when referring to its
- value and not when referring to the variable itself, in this case there is
- nothing to add except the backticks:
-   `GIT_DIR` is specified
-   `$GIT_DIR/hooks/pre-receive`
-
- Word phrases enclosed in `backtick characters` are rendered literally
- and will not be further expanded. The use of `backticks` to achieve the
- previous rule means that literal examples should not use AsciiDoc
- escapes.
-   Correct:
-      `--pretty=oneline`
-   Incorrect:
-      `\--pretty=oneline`
-
- If some place in the documentation needs to typeset a command usage
- example with inline substitutions, it is fine to use +monospaced and
- inline substituted text+ instead of `monospaced literal text`, and with
- the former, the part that should not get substituted must be
- quoted/escaped.