Hi, Many GNU packages-if not all-use a macro #define _() as a shorthand for gettext() to support internationalization in a concise way. However, this convention is not currently documented in the GNU coding standards.
This omission causes issues with clang-format, which treats _() as a regular function call and consistently inserts a space between _ and ( during formatting. While minor, this behavior is inconvenient for projects following GNU conventions. I've proposed a change to clang-format to allow customization of this behavior (discussion here). However, without a broader policy or documentation in the GNU coding style, the maintainers are hesitant to accept such a change. https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/159925#issuecomment-3322484612 As a contributor to GDB, I reached out to Simon Marchi, one of the maintainers, and he kindly updated the GDB coding standards to reflect this usage. I'm hoping this might help persuade the clang-format team. GDB coding style guide is here and includes said improvement: https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/Internals%20GDB-C-Coding-Standards I'm writing to ask whether it would be possible to update the official GNU coding standards to include this convention. Having it documented would not only clarify the practice but also support tooling improvements across GNU projects. Thank you for your consideration. Best regards, Klaus Gerlicher Intel Deutschland GmbH Registered Address: Am Campeon 10, 85579 Neubiberg, Germany Tel: +49 89 99 8853-0, www.intel.de Managing Directors: Sean Fennelly, Jeffrey Schneiderman, Tiffany Doon Silva Chairperson of the Supervisory Board: Nicole Lau Registered Office: Munich Commercial Register: Amtsgericht Muenchen HRB 186928
