linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/1] alpha: trivial: remove ^L chars

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Message-ID: <CA+=Fv5Rw3vJGLsEyuKOBMyZTcQd=ayV5jT6bhWNn=uzXKsw13w@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2026 17:30:12 +0100
From: Magnus Lindholm <linmag7@...il.com>
To: "Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro@...am.me.uk>
Cc: Askar Safin <safinaskar@...il.com>, Richard Henderson <richard.henderson@...aro.org>, 
	Matt Turner <mattst88@...il.com>, linux-alpha@...r.kernel.org, 
	kernel-janitors@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, 
	patches@...ts.linux.dev
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] alpha: trivial: remove ^L chars

>  As a matter of interest, why would the presence of ^L characters cause
> any issues?  That is just another instance of white space and it has been
> commonly used across some source code to separate functional parts, e.g.
> in the GNU toolchain.  It can be ignored unless you actually send the code
> to a printer (which I suppose hardly anyone does nowadays).
>

I guess you're right, at this point it's mostly aesthetics. ^L is just
whitespace and the compiler ignores it, likely a relic from the old
days. Some editors display it a bit oddly, and most of the kernel seems
to have pruned these over time, but a few still linger in arch/alpha,
which fits the age and heritage there.

Magnus