kdelibs coding style

[Clarence Dang]

On Thursday 01 January 1970 10:00, Zack Rusin wrote:
> proposal for a common coding style  in kdelibs.

I don't work on kdelibs but I do dislike the idea of forcing a common coding 
style up people's throats.  Nevertheless, I'm not going to object since many 
people seem happy about it.  Having said that, it's quite close to my style 
anyway except for the braces.

But here is a few points I want to make:

1. This tramples on code that perhaps only 1 person maintains.  What benefit 
is there in that other than pissing them off?  If consistent style across 
files is so important, why stop at kdelibs?  Why not force the whole of KDE 
to follow this new style?  Hell, why not force the Linux kernel to follow our 
4-spaces tabs style as well? :)

Consistent style _inside_ a file is important but consistent style _across_ 
files even if you have nothing to do with them is contentious.

2. If people aren't respecting an existing file's style when editing the file, 
what's the likelihood that they are going to follow a new, global one?  With 
the current status quo, if you find a file with inconsistent style, feel free 
to change it.  Same with the new scheme so I doubt it will work - I predict 
no one will bother changing existing files.

3. Transparency

> please no adjustments. otherwise we'll discuss this till the cows come home
> as people try and adjust this or that citing past changes as precedent. =)

This is like saying:

"I am offering a totally open and transparent discussion.  However I refuse to 
negotiate any part of my proposal"