doc: workflow.rst: more details of current coding style process

Signed-off-by: G. Paul Ziemba <paulz@labn.net>

1 files changed, 21 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/developer/workflow.rst b/doc/developer/workflow.rst
index 80029cbd1..972da29aa 100644
--- a/doc/developer/workflow.rst
+++ b/doc/developer/workflow.rst
@@ -471,6 +471,14 @@ checkpatch.sh
    When convenient it is preferred that these be cleaned up inline, but this is
    not required.
 
+   In general, a developer should heed the information reported by checkpatch.
+   However, some flexibility is needed for cases where human judgement yields
+   better clarity than the script. Accordingly, it may be appropriate to
+   ignore some checkpatch.sh warnings per discussion among the submitter(s)
+   and reviewer(s) of a change. Misreporting of errors by the script is
+   possible. When this occurs, a patch for checkpatch should be added to
+   the pull request to correct the false error report.
+
    If the script finds one or more WARNINGs it will exit with 1. If it finds
    one or more ERRORs it will exit with 2.
 
@@ -480,6 +488,12 @@ responsibility for properly formatting your code ultimately lies on the
 shoulders of the submitter. As such, it is recommended to double-check the
 results of these tools to avoid delays in merging your submission.
 
+In some cases, these tools modify or flag the format in ways that go beyond or
+even conflict [#tool_style_conflicts]_ with the canonical documented Linux
+kernel style. In these cases, the Linux kernel style takes priority;
+non-canonical issues flagged by the tools are not compulsory but rather are
+opportunities for discussion among the submitter(s) and reviewer(s) of a change.
+
 **Whitespace changes in untouched parts of the code are not acceptable
 in patches that change actual code.** To change/fix formatting issues,
 please create a separate patch that only does formatting changes and
@@ -875,3 +889,10 @@ particular command does.
 
 .. _GitHub: https://github.com/frrouting/frr
 .. _GitHub issues: https://github.com/frrouting/frr/issues
+
+.. rubric:: Footnotes
+
+.. [#tool_style_conflicts] For example, lines over 80 characters are allowed
+   for text strings to make it possible to search the code for them: please
+   see `Linux kernel style (breaking long lines and strings) <https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/coding-style.html#breaking-long-lines-and-strings>`_
+   and `Issue #1794 <https://github.com/FRRouting/frr/issues/1794>`_.