|  | 1. Preprocessor | 
|  |  | 
|  | For variadic macros, stick with this C99-like syntax: | 
|  |  | 
|  | #define DPRINTF(fmt, ...)                                       \ | 
|  | do { printf("IRQ: " fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__); } while (0) | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2. C types | 
|  |  | 
|  | It should be common sense to use the right type, but we have collected | 
|  | a few useful guidelines here. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2.1. Scalars | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you're using "int" or "long", odds are good that there's a better type. | 
|  | If a variable is counting something, it should be declared with an | 
|  | unsigned type. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If it's host memory-size related, size_t should be a good choice (use | 
|  | ssize_t only if required). Guest RAM memory offsets must use ram_addr_t, | 
|  | but only for RAM, it may not cover whole guest address space. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If it's file-size related, use off_t. | 
|  | If it's file-offset related (i.e., signed), use off_t. | 
|  | If it's just counting small numbers use "unsigned int"; | 
|  | (on all but oddball embedded systems, you can assume that that | 
|  | type is at least four bytes wide). | 
|  |  | 
|  | In the event that you require a specific width, use a standard type | 
|  | like int32_t, uint32_t, uint64_t, etc.  The specific types are | 
|  | mandatory for VMState fields. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Don't use Linux kernel internal types like u32, __u32 or __le32. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Use target_phys_addr_t for guest physical addresses except pcibus_t | 
|  | for PCI addresses.  In addition, ram_addr_t is a QEMU internal address | 
|  | space that maps guest RAM physical addresses into an intermediate | 
|  | address space that can map to host virtual address spaces.  Generally | 
|  | speaking, the size of guest memory can always fit into ram_addr_t but | 
|  | it would not be correct to store an actual guest physical address in a | 
|  | ram_addr_t. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Use target_ulong (or abi_ulong) for CPU virtual addresses, however | 
|  | devices should not need to use target_ulong. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Of course, take all of the above with a grain of salt.  If you're about | 
|  | to use some system interface that requires a type like size_t, pid_t or | 
|  | off_t, use matching types for any corresponding variables. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Also, if you try to use e.g., "unsigned int" as a type, and that | 
|  | conflicts with the signedness of a related variable, sometimes | 
|  | it's best just to use the *wrong* type, if "pulling the thread" | 
|  | and fixing all related variables would be too invasive. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Finally, while using descriptive types is important, be careful not to | 
|  | go overboard.  If whatever you're doing causes warnings, or requires | 
|  | casts, then reconsider or ask for help. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2.2. Pointers | 
|  |  | 
|  | Ensure that all of your pointers are "const-correct". | 
|  | Unless a pointer is used to modify the pointed-to storage, | 
|  | give it the "const" attribute.  That way, the reader knows | 
|  | up-front that this is a read-only pointer.  Perhaps more | 
|  | importantly, if we're diligent about this, when you see a non-const | 
|  | pointer, you're guaranteed that it is used to modify the storage | 
|  | it points to, or it is aliased to another pointer that is. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2.3. Typedefs | 
|  | Typedefs are used to eliminate the redundant 'struct' keyword. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2.4. Reserved namespaces in C and POSIX | 
|  | Underscore capital, double underscore, and underscore 't' suffixes should be | 
|  | avoided. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 3. Low level memory management | 
|  |  | 
|  | Use of the malloc/free/realloc/calloc/valloc/memalign/posix_memalign | 
|  | APIs is not allowed in the QEMU codebase. Instead of these routines, | 
|  | use the replacement qemu_malloc/qemu_mallocz/qemu_realloc/qemu_free or | 
|  | qemu_vmalloc/qemu_memalign/qemu_vfree APIs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Please note that NULL check for the qemu_malloc result is redundant and | 
|  | that qemu_malloc() call with zero size is not allowed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Memory allocated by qemu_vmalloc or qemu_memalign must be freed with | 
|  | qemu_vfree, since breaking this will cause problems on Win32 and user | 
|  | emulators. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 4. String manipulation | 
|  |  | 
|  | Do not use the strncpy function.  According to the man page, it does | 
|  | *not* guarantee a NULL-terminated buffer, which makes it extremely dangerous | 
|  | to use.  Instead, use functionally equivalent function: | 
|  | void pstrcpy(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *str) | 
|  |  | 
|  | Don't use strcat because it can't check for buffer overflows, but: | 
|  | char *pstrcat(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *s) | 
|  |  | 
|  | The same limitation exists with sprintf and vsprintf, so use snprintf and | 
|  | vsnprintf. | 
|  |  | 
|  | QEMU provides other useful string functions: | 
|  | int strstart(const char *str, const char *val, const char **ptr) | 
|  | int stristart(const char *str, const char *val, const char **ptr) | 
|  | int qemu_strnlen(const char *s, int max_len) | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are also replacement character processing macros for isxyz and toxyz, | 
|  | so instead of e.g. isalnum you should use qemu_isalnum. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Because of the memory management rules, you must use qemu_strdup/qemu_strndup | 
|  | instead of plain strdup/strndup. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 5. Printf-style functions | 
|  |  | 
|  | Whenever you add a new printf-style function, i.e., one with a format | 
|  | string argument and following "..." in its prototype, be sure to use | 
|  | gcc's printf attribute directive in the prototype. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This makes it so gcc's -Wformat and -Wformat-security options can do | 
|  | their jobs and cross-check format strings with the number and types | 
|  | of arguments. |