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34 .Dd December 13, 1995
35 .Dt INTRO 9
36 .Os
37 .Sh NAME
38 .Nm intro
39 .Nd "introduction to system kernel interfaces"
40 .Sh DESCRIPTION
41 This section contains information about the interfaces and
42 subroutines in the kernel.
43 .Sh PROTOTYPES ANSI-C AND ALL THAT
44 Yes please.
45 .Pp
46 We would like all code to be fully prototyped.
47 .Pp
48 If your code compiles cleanly with
49 .Nm cc
50 .Ar -Wall
51 we would feel happy about it.
52 It is important to understand that this isn't a question of just shutting up
53 .Nm cc ,
54 it is a question about avoiding the things it complains about.
55 To put it bluntly, don't hide the problem by casting and other
56 obfuscating practices, solve the problem.
57 .Sh INDENTATION AND STYLE
58 Believe it or not, there actually exists a guide for indentation and style.
59 It isn't generally applied though.
60 .Pp
61 We would appreciate if people would pay attention to it, and at least not
62 violate it blatantly.
63 .Pp
64 We don't mind it too badly if you have your own style, but please make
65 sure we can read it too.
66 .Pp
67 Please take time to read
68 .Xr style 9
69 for more information.
70 .Sh NAMING THINGS
71 Some general rules exist:
72 .Bl -enum
73 .It
74 If a function is meant as a debugging aid in DDB, it should be enclosed
75 in
76 .Bd -literal -offset indent
77 #ifdef DDB
78
79 #endif /* DDB */
80 .Ed
81 .Pp
82 And the name of the procedure should start with the prefix
83 .Li DDB_
84 to clearly identify the procedure as a debugger routine.
85 .El
86 .Sh SCOPE OF SYMBOLS
87 It is important to carefully consider the scope of symbols in the kernel.
88 The default is to make everything static, unless some reason requires
89 the opposite.
90 .Pp
91 There are several reasons for this policy,
92 the main one is that the kernel is one monolithic name-space,
93 and pollution is not a good idea here either.
94 .Pp
95 For device drivers and other modules that don't add new internal interfaces
96 to the kernel, the entire source should be in one file if possible.
97 That way all symbols can be made static.
98 .Pp
99 If for some reason a module is split over multiple source files, then try
100 to split the module along some major fault-line and consider using the
101 number of global symbols as your guide.
102 The fewer the better.
103 .Sh SEE ALSO
104 .Xr style 9
105 .Sh HISTORY
106 The
107 .Nm
108 section manual page appeared in
109 .Fx 2.2 .