From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: gmate.amit@gmail.com (Kumar amit mehta) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:31:29 -0700 Subject: Query on CodingStyle: indentation Message-ID: <20121019053129.GA2712@gmail.com> To: kernelnewbies@lists.kernelnewbies.org List-Id: kernelnewbies.lists.kernelnewbies.org Hi, I've a query regarding the coding style for Linux Kernel code. I'm reading the CodingStyle under Documentation and what I've understood is that I shouldn't be using spaces for indentation purposes and should use tabs of width 8 characters. Quoting from the same document: "Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken." However, Is it correct to replace each tab stroke by 8 spaces ? I use vim editor and I've put following under $HOME/.vimrc file: set tabstop=8 set shiftwidth=8 set expandtab In past I've seen that some application have different interpretation of tabs and hence sometimes even If I've done proper indentation using tab, the code appears unindented, and therefore In order to make sure that I'm moving 8 characters upon hitting tab, I've put the above rules under my .vimrc file. Please let me know If I should remove these from my .vimrc file and rely on tab instead. -Amit