linux-kernel - Tabs, spaces, indent and 80 character lines

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Message-ID: <47C0BEE7.4040409@student.ltu.se>
Date:	Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:48:39 +0100
From:	Richard Knutsson <ricknu-0@...dent.ltu.se>
To:	Linux kernel mailing list <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Tabs, spaces, indent and 80 character lines

Good evening

In the thread "Merging of completely unreviewed drivers" I got reminded 
of the "use tabs not spaces"-mentality.
My question is: why?

The tab-character serves us well as a indent-indicator, but for some 
reason there has been focus on its relation to spaces. On the question 
"How long should a line at maximum be?" it is relevant (the question is 
not [1]). So it is set to be as wide as 8 spaces, but when did it become 
a replacement for 8 spaces? Why hinder a developer who prefer 2, 4, 6 or 
any other != 8 width? By only using tabs as indents, and changing the 
CodeStyle to be something like "maximum 80 characters-wide lines, with a 
tab-setting of 8 spaces", that is possible + easier to write 
code-checkers [2].

Or are we really that concerned about the disk-space? ;)

2 cents away...
/Richard Knutsson

[1] As has been pointed out by many, it is the complexity that matters 
(code-checker). A short line can be overly complicated and still under 
80 lines and vice versa. Let the editors handle the long lines for the 
author (even I should be able to write a decent script who can decide 
where to chop-off the line).

[2] As it is now, it can look like the indentation is ex. ... 2, 2, 5, 
3, 3... because the second line is split up. (I think it should have 
been 2, 2, 2, 3, 3 (or even better: 2, 2, 3, 3 ))

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