[pacman-dev] New Guy Wants to Change Everything

[Allan McRae]

On 17/01/11 16:23, Westley Martínez wrote:
> Hello I'm Anikom15 and I'm new. You might know me from the Arch Linux
> forums but whatever.

I have seen you there in between your repeated bannings...

> I'm interested in helping develop pacman considering the fact I've been
> using the program for so long I figure I should give something back, and
> maybe get better at C coding, too.
>
> Okay, one question: why does the source code use tabs instead of spaces?
> Is there a specific reason as to why? In my experience spaces makes
> everything easier because tabs can mess up alignment if the editor isn't
> set properly.

How?   As long as you stick with the coding standards and always use 
tabs there can be no issue.

> I know what you're thinking, "These new people they come
> in and wanna change everything and then leave".

I was thinking you need to get a better editor...

> I don't wanna change
> anything unnecessarily, I'd just like an explanation. Now just between
> you and me I think some other conventions the code is using like return
> statements being written like a function call are stupid as well, but
> those don't have dire consequences like the tabs can potentially have.

White space issues having dire consequences?  It is normally the 
non-whitespace issues that you need to worry about.

> Sorry if I sound a little invasive, I don't collaborate much.

As with any project, if you want to contribute you need to stick to the 
established coding standards.  These are unlikely to change unless there 
is a very good reason to do so.

Allan