Every project has its coding style, and oFono is not an exception. This document describes the preferred coding style for oFono code, in order to keep some level of consistency among developers so that code can be easily understood and maintained, and also to help your code survive under maintainer's fastidious eyes so that you can get a passport for your patch ASAP. First of all, oFono coding style must follow every rule for Linux kernel (http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle). There also exists a tool named checkpatch.pl to help you check the compliance with it. Just type "checkpatch.pl --no-tree patch_name" to check your patch. In theory, you need to clean up all the warnings and errors except this one: "ERROR: Missing Signed-off-by: line(s)". However, sometimes, the warning of exceeding maximum characters for a line (80 characters) can be ignored. Besides the kernel coding style above, oFono has special flavors for its own. Some of them are mandatory (marked as 'M'), while some others are optional (marked as 'O'), but nice to have. M1: Blank line before if statement ================================== There should be a blank line before if statement unless the if is nested and not preceded by an expression or variable declaration. Example: 1) a = 1; if (a) { // correct 2) a = 1; if (b) { // wrong 3) if (a) { if (b) // correct M2: Multiple line comment ========================= If your comments have more then one line, please start it from the second line. Example: /* * first line comment // correct * ... * last line comment */ M3: Space before and after operator =================================== There should be a space before and after each operator. Example: a + b; // correct M4: Long condition ================== If your condition in if, while, for statement is too long to fit in one line, the new line needs to be indented not aligned with the body. Example: 1) if (call->status == CALL_STATUS_ACTIVE || call->status == CALL_STATUS_HELD) { // wrong ofono_dbus_dict_append(); 2) if (call->status == CALL_STATUS_ACTIVE || call->status == CALL_STATUS_HELD) { // correct ofono_dbus_dict_append(); M5: Git commit message 50/72 formatting ======================================= The commit message header should be within 50 characters. And if you have detailed explanatory text, wrap it to 72 character. M6: Space when doing type casting ================================= There should be a space between new type and variable. Example: 1) a = (int *)b; // wrong 2) a = (int *) b; // correct M7: Don't initialize variable unnecessarily =========================================== When declaring a variable, try not to initialize it unless necessary. Example: int i = 1; // wrong for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) { } M8: Use g_try_malloc instead of g_malloc ======================================== When g_malloc fails, the whole program would exit. Most of time, this is not the expected behavior, and you may want to use g_try_malloc instead. Example: additional = g_try_malloc(len - 1); // correct if (additional == NULL) return FALSE; O1: Shorten the name ==================== Better to use abbreviation, rather than full name, to name a variable, function, struct, etc. Example: supplementary_service // worse ss // better O2: Try to avoid complex if body ================================ It's better not to have a complicated statement for if. You may judge its contrary condition and return | break | continue | goto ASAP. Example: 1) if (a) { // worse struct voicecall *v; call = synthesize_outgoing_call(vc, vc->pending); v = voicecall_create(vc, call); v->detect_time = time(NULL); DBG("Registering new call: %d", call->id); voicecall_dbus_register(v); } else return; 2) if (!a) return; struct voicecall *v; call = synthesize_outgoing_call(vc, vc->pending); v = voicecall_create(vc, call); v->detect_time = time(NULL); DBG("Registering new call: %d", call->id); voicecall_dbus_register(v);