Re: [PATCH] checkpatch: warn if changed lines exceeds a maximum size

[Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>]

On Thu, 1 Feb 2018 15:42:35 +0000
"Brown, Nicholas" <nb930b@intl.att.com> wrote:

> > I think the metric is too simplistic and
> > not particularly useful.  
> 
> I'm not sure it's any more simplistic than than the character line
> length limit, which is there to prompt thought on code nesting levels,
> etc. And as it has to be explicitly configured it allows developers the
> discretion to determine a code change size that meaningful in a given
> situation.

The line-length limit relates directly to code readability and
non-infringement of a developer's sacred right to work unimpeded on an
80x24 xterm (the last vt100 died, unfortunately).

A line-count limit lacks even that justification.  The rule on splitting
patches is entirely about logical changes that can be reviewed
independently.  Some of those changes involve a lot of lines, others do
not.  If the correct splits do not come to you when you're writing the
changelogs for your patches (or before), a tool nagging about line counts
really isn't going to help.  I would expect it to miss most patches
actually in need of splitting while complaining about many patches that
are just fine.

Thanks for working to improve the tools - they certainly can afford a lot
of improvement!  But my own suggestion would be to look a bit further for
improvements that will be truly helpful to the development community.

Thanks,

jon