Re: play.c

[Hollis Blanchard]

On Nov 5, 2005, at 3:25 PM, Dennis Clarke wrote:

> I was sitting on some changes and was thinking about how to submit
> them and then thought, oh great, I have no idea what style is needed
> or wanted.  So then after seeing this, an inside joke or something
> like that, I then felt "why bother".

Formatting code acceptably for any new project is indeed a barrier to 
entry. You can see my frustration with the ChangeLog in particular in 
the mailing list archives. :) I still think ChangeLog is stupid, but it 
doesn't get in my way much now, so I live with it.

The Linux kernel has other (non-code-related) quirks, such as the 
"Signed-off-by" line, and figuring out the appropriate person to send a 
particular patch to. All these things take some adjusting for new 
contributors.

Btw, if you haven't seen it already, http://grub.enbug.org/CodingStyle 
offers some formatting guidance.

> Hollis was probably dead on the mark.  Open source works just fine and
> constructive criticism is a good thing.  I guess thats the whole
> point.  On that note I'm going to pull the latest CVS and then have
> another look at a few things.

Glad to hear it! :) By the way, have you arranged to assign your 
copyright to the FSF? This is a legal barrier to entry...

-Hollis