So you want to add code to Samba ...

One of the daunting tasks facing a programmer attempting to write code for
Samba is understanding the various coding conventions used by those most
active in the project.  These conventions were mostly unwritten and helped
improve either the portability, stability or consistency of the code. This
document will attempt to document a few of the more important coding practices
used at this time on the Samba project.  The coding practices are expected to
change slightly over time, and even to grow as more is learned about obscure
portability considerations.   Two existing documents samba/source/internals.doc
and samba/source/architecture.doc provide additional information.

The loosely related question of coding style is very personal and this document
does not attempt to address that subject, except to say that I have observed
that eight character tabs seem to be preferred in Samba source.  If you are
interested in the topic of coding style, two oft-quoted documents are:  
   http://lxr.linux.no/source/Documentation/CodingStyle   and
   http://www.fsf.org/prep/standards_toc.html
but note that coding style in Samba varies due to the many different programmers
who have contributed.

Following are some considerations you should use when adding new code to Samba.
First and foremost remember that: 

Portability is a primary consideration in adding function, as is network 
compatability with de facto, existing, real world CIFS/SMB implementations.
There are lots of platforms that Samba builds on so use caution when adding
a call to a library function that is not invoked in existing Samba code.  Also
note that there are many quite different SMB/CIFS clients that Samba tries
to support, not all of which follow the SNIA CIFS Technical Reference (or the
earlier Microsoft reference documents or the X/Open book on the SMB Standard)
perfectly. 

Here are some other suggestions:
1) use d_printf instead of printf for display text
	reason: enable auto-substitution of translated language text 
2) use SAFE_FREE instead of free
	reason: reduce traps due to null pointers
3) don't use bzero use memset, or ZERO_STRUCT and ZERO_STRUCTP macros
	reason: not POSIX
4) don't use strcpy and strlen (use safe_* equivalents)
	reason: to avoid traps due to buffer overruns
5) don't use getopt_long, use popt functions instead
	reason: portability
6) explicitly add const qualifiers on parm passing in functions where
parm is input only (somewhat controversial but const can be #defined away)
8) discourage use of threads
        reason: portability (also see architecture.doc)
9) don't explicitly include new header files in C files - new h files 
should be included by adding them once to includes.h
	reason: consistency
10) don't explicitly extern functions (they are autogenerated by 
"make proto" into proto.h)
	reason: consistency
11) use endian safe macros when unpacking SMBs (see byteorder.h and internals.doc)  
	reason: not everyone uses Intel
12) Note Unicode implications of charset handling (see internals.doc).  See
pull_*  and push_* and convert_string functions.
	reason: Internationalization
13) Don't assume English only
	reason: See above
14) Try to avoid using in/out parameters (functions that return data which
overwrites input parameters)
	reason: Can cause stability problems
15) Ensure copyright notices are correct, don't append Tridge's name to code
that he didn't write.  If you did not write the code, make sure that it can
coexist with the rest of the Samba GPLed code.
16) Consider usage of DATA_BLOBs for length specified byte-data.
	reason: stability
17) Take advantage of tdbs for database like function
	reason: consistency
18) Don't access the SAM_ACCOUNT structure directly, they should be accessed
via pdb_get...() and pdb_set...() functions.
	reason: stability, consistency
19) Don't check a password directly against the passdb, always use the
check_password() interface.
	reason: long term pluggability
20) Try to use asprintf rather than pstrings and fstrings where possible	
	
	
The suggestions above are simply that, suggestions, but the information may
help in reducing the routine rework done on new code.  The preceeding list
is expected to change routinely as new support routines and macros are added.


Written by Steve French, with contributions from Simo Sorce and Andrew Bartlett.