Re: run pgindent on a regular basis / scripted manner

On Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 10:43:50AM +0100, Jelte Fennema wrote:
> Side-question: What's the reason why pgindent is used instead of some
> more "modern" code formatter that doesn't require keeping
> typedefs.list up to date for good looking output? (e.g. uncrustify or
> clang-format) Because that would also allow for easy editor
> integration.

One reason the typedef list is required is a quirk of the C syntax. 
Most languages have a lexer/scanner, which tokenizes, and a parser,
which parses.  The communication is usually one-way, lexer to parser. 
For C, typedefs require the parser to feed new typedefs back into the
lexer:

    http://calculist.blogspot.com/2009/02/c-typedef-parsing-problem.html

BSD indent doesn't have that feedback mechanism, probably because it
doesn't fully parse the C file.  Therefore, we have to supply typedefs
manually, and for Postgres we pull them from debug-enabled binaries in
our buildfarm.  The problem with that is you often import typedefs from
system headers, and the typedefs apply to all C files, not just the ones
were the typdefs are visible.

I don't see uncrustify or clang-format supporting typedef lists so maybe
they implemented this feedback loop.  It would be good to see if we can
get either of these tools to match our formatting.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

Embrace your flaws.  They make you human, rather than perfect,
which you will never be.