[Gnash-dev] Recent commit in devtools

[ann]

Hello,

Some of you may have noticed a recent commit which introduced some files
in to the 'devtools' directory.

When Rob was last in the Netherlands, he, Bastiaan and I spoke about coding
standards.  I proposed creating some tests which are not included with
the distribution, which contributors could use to see if their patches
adhere to the Gnash coding standards as laid out in the documentation
(which must be updated).  As the project leader, Rob will be the one to
make decisions about style.

These would be accompanied with vim and emacs settings which can be used
to assist with compliance.  The goal would be for new code to adhere to
the guidelines, and older code would be gradually brought to compliance.

I have chosen to start with a check for 'uncuddled elses' because this was
a fairly simple test to write, not because it is the most important
aspect of the style guide.  The tests are written in Perl; you can use
'perldoc <testname>' on any test to see usage instructions.

My plan is to add additional tests, and, starting next week, to modify
some older source to pass the tests.  Hopefully this will give people
ample time to inform me of any outstanding changes, so that I will not
create merge conflicts.  I will also look in to automating the code
correction, and on writing the vim/emacs style information.

Of course this also gives time for people to voice concerns with this plan.

- Ann