Re: [PATCH net] docs: netdev: Document guidance on inline functions
From: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
Date: 2025-02-04 11:54:14
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On Mon, Feb 03, 2025 at 08:50:39PM +0100, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
Em Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:00:56 -0700 Jonathan Corbet [off-list ref] escreveu:quoted
Simon Horman [off-list ref] writes:quoted
Document preference for non inline functions in .c files. This has been the preference for as long as I can recall and I was recently surprised to discover that it is undocumented. Reported-by: Alexandre Ferrieux <redacted> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/9662e6fe-cc91-4258-aba1-ab5b016a041a@orange.com/ (local) Signed-off-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org> --- Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst | 11 +++++++++++ 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)diff --git a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst index e497729525d5..1fbb8178b8cd 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst@@ -408,6 +408,17 @@ at a greater cost than the value of such clean-ups. Conversely, spelling and grammar fixes are not discouraged. +Inline functions +---------------- + +The use of static inline functions in .c file is strongly discouraged
As suggested by Andrew Lunn elsewhere in this thread I will drop "static" from the line above.
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+unless there is a demonstrable reason for them, usually performance +related. Rather, it is preferred to omit the inline keyword and allow the +compiler to inline them as it sees fit.You should probably point to chapter (12) of Documentation/process/coding-style.rst where it mentions that inline for function prototypes and as a way to static replace macros are OK.
Thanks, perhaps something like this would help: Using inline in .h files is fine and is encouraged in place of macros [reference section 12].
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+ +This is a stricter requirement than that of the general Linux Kernel +:ref:`Coding Style<codingstyle>`I have no objection to this change, but I do wonder if it does indeed belong in the central coding-style document. I don't think anybody encourages use of "inline" these days...?Indeed IMO this belongs to the coding style. I would place it close to chapter (12) at Documentation/process/coding-style.rst.
Sure, thanks to you and Jonathan for the positive feedback there. I will prepare a revised patch that updates coding-style.rst instead.