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Subject[PATCH RFC 1/2] Kernel-doc: Convention: Use a "Return" section to describe return values
Date
Non-void functions should describe their return values in their kernel-doc
comments. Currently, some don't, others do in various forms. For example:
* Return the result.
* Return: The result.
* Returns the result.
* Returns: the result.
* Return Value: The result.
* @return: the result.
* This function returns the result.
* It will return the result.

Defining a convention would improve consistency of kernel-doc comments. It
would also help scripts/kernel-doc identify the text describing the return
value of a function. Thus allowing additional checks on the comments, and
suitable highlighting in the generated docs (man pages, html, etc).

So, as a convention, use a section named "Return" to describe the return
value of a function.

Signed-off-by: Yacine Belkadi <yacine.belkadi.1@gmail.com>
---
Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt | 13 ++++++++++---
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt b/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
index 3d8a977..99b57ab 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ Example kernel-doc function comment:
* comment lines.
*
* The longer description can have multiple paragraphs.
+ *
+ * Return: Describe the return value of foobar.
*/

The short description following the subject can span multiple lines
@@ -78,6 +80,8 @@ If a function parameter is "..." (varargs), it should be listed in
kernel-doc notation as:
* @...: description

+The return value, if any, should be described in a dedicated section
+named "Return".

Example kernel-doc data structure comment.

@@ -222,6 +226,9 @@ only a "*").
"section header:" names must be unique per function (or struct,
union, typedef, enum).

+Use the section header "Return" for sections describing the return value
+of a function.
+
Avoid putting a spurious blank line after the function name, or else the
description will be repeated!

@@ -237,21 +244,21 @@ patterns, which are highlighted appropriately.
NOTE 1: The multi-line descriptive text you provide does *not* recognize
line breaks, so if you try to format some text nicely, as in:

- Return codes
+ Return:
0 - cool
1 - invalid arg
2 - out of memory

this will all run together and produce:

- Return codes 0 - cool 1 - invalid arg 2 - out of memory
+ Return: 0 - cool 1 - invalid arg 2 - out of memory

NOTE 2: If the descriptive text you provide has lines that begin with
some phrase followed by a colon, each of those phrases will be taken as
a new section heading, which means you should similarly try to avoid text
like:

- Return codes:
+ Return:
0: cool
1: invalid arg
2: out of memory
--
1.7.9.5


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