On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 10:31:29PM -0700, Kumar amit mehta wrote:

Hi,

I've a query regarding the coding style for Linux Kernel code. I'm
reading the CodingStyle under Documentation and what I've understood is
that I shouldn't be using spaces for indentation purposes and should use
tabs of width 8 characters. Quoting from the same document: 
"Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are
never used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken."
However, Is it correct to replace each tab stroke by 8 spaces ? I use vim
editor and I've put following under $HOME/.vimrc file:
<snip>
set tabstop=8
set shiftwidth=8 
set expandtab
<snip>

In past I've seen that some application have different interpretation of
tabs and hence sometimes even If I've done proper indentation using tab,
the code appears unindented, and therefore In order to make sure that I'm
moving 8 characters upon hitting tab, I've put the above rules under my
.vimrc file. Please let me know If I should remove these from my .vimrc
file and rely on tab instead.

No, you should not expand tabs. Tabs in CodingStyle mean _hard_ tabs.

Mine:

<snip>
set tabstop=8
set noexpandtab
set shiftwidth=8
set cinoptions=:0,l1,t0,g0
<snip>

-- 
Regards,
Adam Lee
http://adam8157.info