Re: [PATCH v3 68/77] ncr5380: Fix whitespace issues using regexp

[Joe Perches <joe@perches.com>]

On Wed, 2015-12-23 at 13:03 +1100, Finn Thain wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Dec 2015, Joe Perches wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, 2015-12-23 at 11:56 +1100, Finn Thain wrote:
> > > On Tue, 22 Dec 2015, Joe Perches wrote:
> > > 
> > > > On Tue, 2015-12-22 at 12:18 +1100, Finn Thain wrote:
> > > > > This patch is just the result of two substitutions. The first 
> > > > > removes any tabs and spaces at the end of the line. The second 
> > > > > replaces runs of tabs and spaces at the beginning of comment lines 
> > > > > with a single space.
> > > > 
> > > > I think the second of these isn't done well.
> > > 
> > > The aim of this patch is not to fix code style, but to make it 
> > > possible to compare these two files so that the fork can be repaired. 
> > > Regexp is very helpful in creating uniformity (and a minimal diff).
> > > 
> > > If this was a coding style issue, we would be discussing the use of 
> > > kernel-doc format for the affected comments, not whitespace.
> > > 
> > > > Many of these comments post reformatting are much worse to read 
> > > > because of lost alignment.
> > > 
> > > You exaggerate a very trivial point.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I prefer that all patches be improvements.
> > 
> 
> Agreed. But the example you cited is an improvement, in that it creates 
> consistency.

I think "consistency" isn't a useful argument.
The kernel code doesn't care about any other
external code bases.

> Like you, I prefer to see formal parameters aligned when wrapped. But this 
> isn't a formal parameter list, it is a comment, and no comment should 
> duplicate code.
> 
> Can you suggest a better regexp? Since this is patch 68 in the series, 
> there is a good chance that it will need to be regenerated.

I suggest you do 2 patches here.  One that removes
unnecessary trailing spaces and converts multiple
leading spaces to tabs where appropriate and a
second patch that fixes whatever odd indentation
that does exist after comment leading *.  I think
there aren't many instances of those and I think
those should be done by hand rather than regex.