~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

***********************
Bazaar Code Style Guide
***********************

Code layout
===========

Please write PEP-8__ compliant code.

__ http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0008.html

One often-missed requirement is that the first line of docstrings
should be a self-contained one-sentence summary.

We use 4 space indents for blocks, and never use tab characters.  (In vim,
``set expandtab``.)

Trailing white space should be avoided, but is allowed.
You should however not make lots of unrelated white space changes.

Unix style newlines (LF) are used.

Each file must have a newline at the end of it.

Lines should be no more than 79 characters if at all possible.
Lines that continue a long statement may be indented in either of
two ways:

within the parenthesis or other character that opens the block, e.g.::

    my_long_method(arg1,
                   arg2,
                   arg3)

or indented by four spaces::

    my_long_method(arg1,
        arg2,
        arg3)

The first is considered clearer by some people; however it can be a bit
harder to maintain (e.g. when the method name changes), and it does not
work well if the relevant parenthesis is already far to the right.  Avoid
this::

     self.legbone.kneebone.shinbone.toebone.shake_it(one,
                                                     two,
                                                     three)

but rather ::

     self.legbone.kneebone.shinbone.toebone.shake_it(one,
         two,
         three)

or ::

     self.legbone.kneebone.shinbone.toebone.shake_it(
         one, two, three)

For long lists, we like to add a trailing comma and put the closing
character on the following line.  This makes it easier to add new items in
future::

    from bzrlib.goo import (
        jam,
        jelly,
        marmalade,
        )

There should be spaces between function parameters, but not between the
keyword name and the value::

    call(1, 3, cheese=quark)


Python versions
===============

Bazaar supports Python from 2.4 through 2.6, and in the future we want to
support Python 2.7 and 3.0.  Avoid using language features added in 2.5,
2.6 or 2.7, or features deprecated in Python 3.0.  (You can check v3
compatibility using the ``-3`` option of Python2.6.)

Specifically:

* Don't use the ``with`` statement.

* Don't ``from . import``.

* Don't use ``try/except/finally``, which is not supported in Python2.4,
  use separate nested ``try/except`` and ``try/finally`` blocks.


hasattr and getattr
===================

``hasattr`` should not be used because it swallows exceptions including
``KeyboardInterrupt``.  Instead, say something like ::

  if getattr(thing, 'name', None) is None


kwargs
======

``**kwargs`` in the prototype of a function should be used sparingly.
It can be good on higher-order functions that decorate other functions,
such as ``addCleanup`` or ``assertRaises``, or on functions that take only
(or almost only) kwargs, where any kwargs can be passed.  

Otherwise, be careful: if the parameters to a function are a bit complex
and might vary over time (e.g.  the ``commit`` API) then we prefer to pass an
object rather than a bag of positional and/or keyword args.  If you have
an arbitrary set of keys and values that are different with each use (e.g.
string interpolation inputs) then again that should not be mixed in with
the regular positional/keyword args, it seems like a different category of
thing.


Imitating standard objects
==========================

Don't provide methods that imitate built-in classes (eg ``__in__``,
``__call__``, ``__int__``, ``__getitem__``) unless the class you're
implementing really does act like the builtin class, in semantics and
performance.

For example, old code lets you say ``file_id in inv`` but we no longer
consider this good style.  Instead, say more explicitly
``inv.has_id(file_id)``.

``__repr__``, ``__cmp__``, ``__str__`` are usually fine.


Module Imports
==============

* Imports should be done at the top-level of the file, unless there is
  a strong reason to have them lazily loaded when a particular
  function runs.  Import statements have a cost, so try to make sure
  they don't run inside hot functions.

* Module names should always be given fully-qualified,
  i.e. ``bzrlib.hashcache`` not just ``hashcache``.


Naming
======

Functions, methods or members that are relatively private are given
a leading underscore prefix.  Names without a leading underscore are
public not just across modules but to programmers using bzrlib as an
API.

We prefer class names to be concatenated capital words (``TestCase``)
and variables, methods and functions to be lowercase words joined by
underscores (``revision_id``, ``get_revision``).

For the purposes of naming some names are treated as single compound
words: "filename", "revno".

Consider naming classes as nouns and functions/methods as verbs.

Try to avoid using abbreviations in names, because there can be
inconsistency if other people use the full name.


Standard Names
==============

``revision_id`` not ``rev_id`` or ``revid``

Functions that transform one thing to another should be named ``x_to_y``
(not ``x2y`` as occurs in some old code.)


Destructors
===========

Python destructors (``__del__``) work differently to those of other
languages.  In particular, bear in mind that destructors may be called
immediately when the object apparently becomes unreferenced, or at some
later time, or possibly never at all.  Therefore we have restrictions on
what can be done inside them.

0. If you think you need to use a ``__del__`` method ask another
   developer for alternatives.  If you do need to use one, explain
   why in a comment.

1. Never rely on a ``__del__`` method running.  If there is code that
   must run, do it from a ``finally`` block instead.

2. Never ``import`` from inside a ``__del__`` method, or you may crash the
   interpreter!!

3. In some places we raise a warning from the destructor if the object
   has not been cleaned up or closed.  This is considered OK: the warning
   may not catch every case but it's still useful sometimes.


Cleanup methods
===============

Often when something has failed later code will fail too, including
cleanups invoked from ``finally`` blocks.  These secondary failures are
generally uninteresting compared to the original exception.  ``bzrlib``
has some facilities you can use to mitigate this.

* In ``Command`` subclasses, prefer the ``add_cleanup`` method to using
  ``try``/``finally`` blocks.  E.g. to acquire a lock and ensure it will
  always be released when the command is done::

    self.add_cleanup(branch.lock_read().unlock)

  This also avoids heavily indented code. It also makes it easier to notice
  mismatched lock/unlock pairs (and other kinds of resource
  acquire/release) because there isn't a large block of code separating
  them.

* Use the ``only_raises`` decorator (from ``bzrlib.decorators``) when
  defining methods that are typically called in ``finally`` blocks, such
  as ``unlock`` methods.  For example, ``@only_raises(LockNotHeld,
  LockBroken)``.  All errors that are unlikely to be a knock-on failure
  from a previous failure should be allowed.

* Consider using the ``OperationWithCleanups`` helper from
  ``bzrlib.cleanup`` anywhere else you have a ``finally`` block that
  might fail.


Factories
=========

In some places we have variables which point to callables that construct
new instances.  That is to say, they can be used a lot like class objects,
but they shouldn't be *named* like classes.  Things called ``FooBar`` should
create an instance of ``FooBar``.  A factory method that might create a
``FooBar`` or might make something else should be called ``foo_factory``.


Registries
==========

Several places in Bazaar use (or will use) a registry, which is a
mapping from names to objects or classes.  The registry allows for
loading in registered code only when it's needed, and keeping
associated information such as a help string or description.


InterObject and multiple dispatch
=================================

The ``InterObject`` provides for two-way `multiple dispatch`__: matching
up for example a source and destination repository to find the right way
to transfer data between them.

.. __: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_dispatch

There is a subclass ``InterObject`` classes for each type of object that is
dispatched this way, e.g. ``InterRepository``.  Calling ``.get()`` on this
class will return an ``InterObject`` instance providing the best match for
those parameters, and this instance then has methods for operations
between the objects.

::

  inter = InterRepository.get(source_repo, target_repo)
  inter.fetch(revision_id)

``InterRepository`` also acts as a registry-like object for its
subclasses, and they can be added through ``.register_optimizer``.  The
right one to run is selected by asking each class, in reverse order of
registration, whether it ``.is_compatible`` with the relevant objects.

Lazy Imports
============

To make startup time faster, we use the ``bzrlib.lazy_import`` module to
delay importing modules until they are actually used. ``lazy_import`` uses
the same syntax as regular python imports. So to import a few modules in a
lazy fashion do::

  from bzrlib.lazy_import import lazy_import
  lazy_import(globals(), """
  import os
  import subprocess
  import sys
  import time

  from bzrlib import (
     errors,
     transport,
     revision as _mod_revision,
     )
  import bzrlib.transport
  import bzrlib.xml5
  """)

At this point, all of these exist as a ``ImportReplacer`` object, ready to
be imported once a member is accessed. Also, when importing a module into
the local namespace, which is likely to clash with variable names, it is
recommended to prefix it as ``_mod_<module>``. This makes it clearer that
the variable is a module, and these object should be hidden anyway, since
they shouldn't be imported into other namespaces.

While it is possible for ``lazy_import()`` to import members of a module
when using the ``from module import member`` syntax, it is recommended to
only use that syntax to load sub modules ``from module import submodule``.
This is because variables and classes can frequently be used without
needing a sub-member for example::

  lazy_import(globals(), """
  from module import MyClass
  """)

  def test(x):
      return isinstance(x, MyClass)

This will incorrectly fail, because ``MyClass`` is a ``ImportReplacer``
object, rather than the real class.

It also is incorrect to assign ``ImportReplacer`` objects to other variables.
Because the replacer only knows about the original name, it is unable to
replace other variables. The ``ImportReplacer`` class will raise an
``IllegalUseOfScopeReplacer`` exception if it can figure out that this
happened. But it requires accessing a member more than once from the new
variable, so some bugs are not detected right away.


The Null revision
=================

The null revision is the ancestor of all revisions.  Its revno is 0, its
revision-id is ``null:``, and its tree is the empty tree.  When referring
to the null revision, please use ``bzrlib.revision.NULL_REVISION``.  Old
code sometimes uses ``None`` for the null revision, but this practice is
being phased out.


Object string representations
=============================

Python prints objects using their ``__repr__`` method when they are
written to logs, exception tracebacks, or the debugger.  We want
objects to have useful representations to help in determining what went
wrong.

If you add a new class you should generally add a ``__repr__`` method
unless there is an adequate method in a parent class.  There should be a
test for the repr.

Representations should typically look like Python constructor syntax, but
they don't need to include every value in the object and they don't need
to be able to actually execute.  They're to be read by humans, not
machines.  Don't hardcode the classname in the format, so that we get the
correct value if the method is inherited by a subclass.  If you're
printing attributes of the object, including strings, you should normally
use ``%r`` syntax (to call their repr in turn).

Try to avoid the representation becoming more than one or two lines long.
(But balance this against including useful information, and simplicity of
implementation.)

Because repr methods are often called when something has already gone
wrong, they should be written somewhat more defensively than most code.
The object may be half-initialized or in some other way in an illegal
state.  The repr method shouldn't raise an exception, or it may hide the
(probably more useful) underlying exception.

Example::

    def __repr__(self):
        return '%s(%r)' % (self.__class__.__name__,
                           self._transport)


Exception handling
==================

A bare ``except`` statement will catch all exceptions, including ones that
really should terminate the program such as ``MemoryError`` and
``KeyboardInterrupt``.  They should rarely be used unless the exception is
later re-raised.  Even then, think about whether catching just
``Exception`` (which excludes system errors in Python2.5 and later) would
be better.


Test coverage
=============

All code should be exercised by the test suite.  See the `Bazaar Testing
Guide <http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/developers/testing.html>`_ for detailed
information about writing tests.


Assertions
==========

Do not use the Python ``assert`` statement, either in tests or elsewhere.
A source test checks that it is not used.  It is ok to explicitly raise
AssertionError.

Rationale:

* It makes the behaviour vary depending on whether bzr is run with -O
  or not, therefore giving a chance for bugs that occur in one case or
  the other, several of which have already occurred: assertions with
  side effects, code which can't continue unless the assertion passes,
  cases where we should give the user a proper message rather than an
  assertion failure.
* It's not that much shorter than an explicit if/raise.
* It tends to lead to fuzzy thinking about whether the check is
  actually needed or not, and whether it's an internal error or not
* It tends to cause look-before-you-leap patterns.
* It's unsafe if the check is needed to protect the integrity of the
  user's data.
* It tends to give poor messages since the developer can get by with
  no explanatory text at all.
* We can't rely on people always running with -O in normal use, so we
  can't use it for tests that are actually expensive.
* Expensive checks that help developers are better turned on from the
  test suite or a -D flag.
* If used instead of ``self.assert*()`` in tests it makes them falsely
  pass with -O.

emacs setup
===========

In emacs::

    ;(defface my-invalid-face
    ;  '((t (:background "Red" :underline t)))
    ;  "Face used to highlight invalid constructs or other uglyties"
    ;  )

    (defun my-python-mode-hook ()
     ;; setup preferred indentation style.
     (setq fill-column 79)
     (setq indent-tabs-mode nil) ; no tabs, never, I will not repeat
    ;  (font-lock-add-keywords 'python-mode
    ;                         '(("^\\s *\t" . 'my-invalid-face) ; Leading tabs
    ;                            ("[ \t]+$" . 'my-invalid-face)  ; Trailing spaces
    ;                            ("^[ \t]+$" . 'my-invalid-face)); Spaces only
    ;                          )
     )

    (add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'my-python-mode-hook)

The lines beginning with ';' are comments. They can be activated
if one want to have a strong notice of some tab/space usage
violations.

Portability Tips
================

The ``bzrlib.osutils`` module has many useful helper functions, including
some more portable variants of functions in the standard library.

In particular, don't use ``shutil.rmtree`` unless it's acceptable for it
to fail on Windows if some files are readonly or still open elsewhere.
Use ``bzrlib.osutils.rmtree`` instead.

Using the ``open(..).read(..)`` or ``open(..).write(..)`` style chaining
of methods for reading or writing file content relies on garbage collection
to close the file which may keep the file open for an undefined period of
time. This may break some follow up operations like rename on Windows.
Use ``try/finally`` to explictly close the file. E.g.::

    f = open('foo.txt', 'w')
    try:
        f.write(s)
    finally:
        f.close()


Terminology
===========

Bazaar is a GNU project and uses standard GNU terminology, especially:

 * Use the word "Linux" to refer to the Linux kernel, not as a synechoche
   for the entire operating system.  (See `bug 528253
   <https://bugs.launchpad.net/bzr/+bug/528253>`_).

 * Don't say "open source" when you mean "free software".

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