Subject: Re: [PATCH 3/3] Documentation: document difference between release and free

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2024 09:52:20 -0700

Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]> writes:

> We semi-regularly have discussions around whether a function shall be
> named `release()` or `free()`. For most of the part we use these two
> terminologies quite consistently though:
>
>   - `release()` only frees internal state of a structure, whereas the
>     structure itself is not free'd.
>
>   - `free()` frees both internal state and the structure itself.
>
> Carve out a space where we can add idiomatic names for common functions
> in our coding guidelines. This space can get extended in the future when
> we feel the need to document more idiomatic names.

We have _clear() in some subsystem/API.  Are we sure the listed two
are sufficient and _clear() can be replaced with one of them
(perhaps _release())?

> Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  Documentation/CodingGuidelines | 12 ++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 12 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
> index 34fcbcb5a4..ace4c4ad0c 100644
> --- a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
> +++ b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
> @@ -560,6 +560,18 @@ For C programs:
>  
>  	void reset_strbuf(struct strbuf *buf);
>  
> + - There are several common idiomatic names for functions performing
> +   specific tasks on structures:
> +
> +    - `<struct>_init()` initializes a structure without allocating the
> +      structure itself.
> +
> +    - `<struct>_release()` releases a structure's contents without
> +      freeing the structure.
> +
> +    - `<struct>_free()` releases a structure's contents and frees the
> +      structure.
> +
>  For Perl programs:
>  
>   - Most of the C guidelines above apply.