[PATCH] checkpatch: don't encourage new code to use "networking" style comments

From: Brian Norris
Date: Fri Apr 28 2017 - 13:57:46 EST


Our glorious leader has made his opinion known [1]: the "networking"
comment style is not useful for new code. While the same rules as usual
still apply -- e.g., don't unnecessarily churn existing code, and follow
existing practice within files -- that doesn't mean that checkpatch
should be enforcing that for entire directories. Among other reasons,
this can cause automatic patch generators to do the exact wrong thing:
convert perfectly good existing code into the "networking style", just
because it's in a similar directory.

[1] http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1607.1/00627.html
Re: [patch] crypto: sha256-mb - cleanup a || vs | typo

And funny side note from that thread:
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg1181110.html

Ingo:
"Btw., as a historic reference, there is nothing sacred about the
'networking comments coding style': I was there (way too many years ago)
when that comment style was introduced by Alan Cox's first TCP/IP code
drop, and it was little more than just a random inconsistency that
people are now treating as gospel..."

Signed-off-by: Brian Norris <briannorris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 9 ---------
1 file changed, 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index baa3c7be04ad..fb6b6570d275 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -2991,15 +2991,6 @@ sub process {
}

# Block comment styles
-# Networking with an initial /*
- if ($realfile =~ m@^(drivers/net/|net/)@ &&
- $prevrawline =~ /^\+[ \t]*\/\*[ \t]*$/ &&
- $rawline =~ /^\+[ \t]*\*/ &&
- $realline > 2) {
- WARN("NETWORKING_BLOCK_COMMENT_STYLE",
- "networking block comments don't use an empty /* line, use /* Comment...\n" . $hereprev);
- }
-
# Block comments use * on subsequent lines
if ($prevline =~ /$;[ \t]*$/ && #ends in comment
$prevrawline =~ /^\+.*?\/\*/ && #starting /*
--
2.13.0.rc0.306.g87b477812d-goog