Re: libgit2 - a true git library

From: Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se>
Date: Nov 1, 2008, 11:17 UTC
Message-ID: <490C3AC2.4080002@op5.se>
In-Reply-To: <20081031220133.GA14786@spearce.org>

Shawn O. Pearce wrote:

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> Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se> wrote:
>>>   * proper public "stuff" naming (I e.g. realy like types names -- not
>>>     struct or enum tags, that I don't really care -- ending with _t as
>>>     it helps navigating source.
>> *_t types are reserved by POSIX for future implementations, so that's
>> a no-go (although I doubt POSIX will ever make types named git_*_t).
> 
> Yikes.  Anyone know where a concise list of the reserved names are?
>

The ones I know of off the top of my head are:
* Anything ending with _t (posix)
  pthread_t, size_t, socklen_t, ...
* str/mem/? function name prefix NOT followed by an underscore (C lib)
  strlen, strchr, memcmp, memcpy, ...
  (strbuf_ stuff doesn't break this, as it contains an underscore in the
   name - the underscore following it doesn't have to be immediate).
* Double underscore prefix (compiler / C lib)
  __WORDSIZE, __cplusplus, ...

It's also a good idea to stay away from single underscore prefix for generic-ish names, as some compilers/architectures abuse it extensively.

Prefixing all public functions and macros of the library with 'git_' (lower-case for functions and function-like macros, upper-case for the rest) will probably see us through safe. Exceptions can probably be made for already completed API's, such as the arg-parsing stuff and the strbuf code.

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>> Apart from that, please consider reading Ulrich Drepper's musings on
>> library design at http://people.redhat.com/drepper/goodpractice.pdf
> 
> I think I've read that before, but I'll skim over it again.
> Thanks for the link.
>

I swear by it at work, where I'm "the library guy". I'll make sure to review stuff and can chip in code or thoughts to make the library fly with a minimum amount of problems and maintenance burden.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231