CodeReview: Difference between revisions

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== Code review strangies ==
== Code review strategies ==


I think everybody can learn how to do good code review
I think everybody can learn how to do good code review

Revision as of 23:25, 29 October 2012

Code review strategies

I think everybody can learn how to do good code review and I think the most important thing is that everybody reviews his/her own patches in the same way one would review patches from others!

  • First read the commit message. Does that give you the impression the change is in anyway complex? If so do, a "careful_mode++".
  • Read the diffstat. Does this change touches any critical areas of code? If so, do a "careful_mode++".
  • First read the patch hunk by hunk and watch for Coding-Style issues. If there are strange things, do a "careful_mode++".
  • Read the patch again as whole, watch for changes which could possibly change the blackbox behavior of a function.
  • Depending on the "careful_mode", you should try to fully understand the change.
  • Note: Here it's sometimes useful to use the -U<contextlines> feature of git show/diff, so that you see the changes in the full context of the whole function.
  • If you found a change in the behavior, set "very_careful_mode = true".
  • Ask yourself why a change is needed! If you don't see why it's needed, set "very_careful_mode = true".
  • If you find things you don't understand, set "verfy_careful_mode = true".
  • If very_careful_mode != true you may be done. This happens most of the time and most of the time careful_mode is also 0. And the costs are not too high.
  • Maybe ask other people for review. Trigger discussions on the samba-technical@samba.org mailing list.
  • Read the related sources.
  • Use git grep to find callers of a function.
  • Do manual runtime tests.

Review yourself

I think the most important thing is that everybody reviews his/her own patches in the same way you would review patches from others!