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Message-ID: <1a47655c27cd4c5b56005a833f7292a1c7eda224.camel@perches.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] checkpatch: warn about multi-line comments without an
 empty /* line
From:   Joe Perches <joe@perches.com>
To:     Petr Tesarik <petr@tesarici.cz>,
        Andy Whitcroft <apw@canonical.com>,
        Dwaipayan Ray <dwaipayanray1@gmail.com>,
        Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>,
        open list <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Cc:     Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
Date:   Tue, 26 Sep 2023 12:39:49 -0700
In-Reply-To: <20230926192006.18351-1-petr@tesarici.cz>
References: <20230926192006.18351-1-petr@tesarici.cz>
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On Tue, 2023-09-26 at 21:20 +0200, Petr Tesarik wrote:
> According to Documentation/process/coding-style.rst, the preferred style
> for multi-line comments outside net/ and drivers/net/ is:
> 
> .. code-block:: c
> 
>         /*
>          * This is the preferred style for multi-line
>          * comments in the Linux kernel source code.
>          * Please use it consistently.
>          *
>          * Description:  A column of asterisks on the left side,
>          * with beginning and ending almost-blank lines.
>          */
> 
> Signed-off-by: Petr Tesarik <petr@tesarici.cz>
> ---
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl | 8 ++++++++
>  1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> index 7d16f863edf1..0fc3427a9ec9 100755
> --- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> +++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> @@ -4006,6 +4006,14 @@ sub process {
>  			     "networking block comments don't use an empty /* line, use /* Comment...\n" . $hereprev);
>  		}
>  
> +# Non-networking without an initial /*
> +		if ($realfile !~ m@^(drivers/net/|net/)@ &&
> +		    $prevrawline =~ /^\+[ \t]*\/\*.*[^ \t]$/ &&
> +		    $rawline =~ /^\+[ \t]*\*/) {
> +			WARN("MULTILINE_BLOCK_COMMENT_STYLE",
> +			     "multi-line block comments should start with an empty /* line\n" . $hereprev);
> +		}
> +

Nack.

There are _way_ too many uses without an initial /* blank line
that are perfectly acceptable style.

$ git grep '/\*.*' -- '*.[ch]' | \
  grep -v '/\*.*\*/' | \
  grep -v -P "/\*\s*$" | \
  grep -v '/\*\*' | \
  grep -v "SPDX-License" | \
  grep -v -P '^drivers/net|^net/' | \
  wc -l
51834