[MPlayer-dev-eng] Re: [PATCH] Development (Was: Clean up

[Mike Melanson]

On Tue, 26 Feb 2002, Arpi wrote:

> the base policy of mplayer coding style: every developer has its own coding
> style and he can freely use it in his code. contributors have to accept this
> and send patches keeping the style of file contributing to.
> just imagine what would happen if everyone starts to chaneg style of code...
> then it would keep changing all time which breaks all diffs and make it more
> difficult to read by its maintainer/author.
> the other way is forcing a given indenting/coding style and force everyone
> to use that. but no one will like this...

	This is where I've always wholeheartedly disagreed with the
MPlayer way of doing things (though I have always respected them because I
have higher goals here): I believe that all of the code written for a
particular project should adhere to a given set of coding guidelines, set
forth by the project's originator. It's just common practice that if
you're contributing to someone else's project, you use that project's
consistent coding style. Yeah, it means that people have to adjust their
style. That shouldn't be a big deal; I know I've adjusted to lots of new
coding styles between different projects.

	Linux-- the only project rated higher than MPlayer on Freshmeat--
maintains a consistent coding style. And it's much bigger. It's useful for
a coding style to be consistent within a single codebase. A'rpi, this is
where your infamous, stubborn attitude could really shine...:)

	Anyway, I don't expect anything to change on this matter; I just
wanted to register my opinion. I'll keep coding away as before because I
still like the platform that MPlayer provides.

-- 
	-Mike Melanson