GNU bug report logs - #6663
#if 0 blocks in source code

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From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: Christoph <cschol2112 <at> googlemail.com>
Cc: 6663 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#6663: #if 0 blocks in source code
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:31:34 +0200

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 00:10, Christoph <cschol2112 <at> googlemail.com> wrote:

> I noticed a couple of #if 0 blocks in keyboard.c, which have explicit comments
> that the code within the block is obsolete. A quick grep "#if 0" showed
> about 200 instances of disabled or obsolete code in files in the src directory.
>
> Should these instances be cleaned up?

Not blindly, no.

Some of these code is not obsolete, it's just that it has not been
made to work yet (ISTR there's such code in parts of the w32 image
support, for example, but I could be wrong).

Some of it is indeed obsolete, but (I think) it was felt that having
it around to see would preclude people reinventing tried-and-discarded
ways. That was perhaps more relevant with CVS than Bazaar (or not,
because we still don't have a web interface to easily see past
versions, and relying on bzr blame is clumsy).

In other words, IMHO the answer is that some of these #if 0 blocks
could and should be removed, but you'll have to look at them, exercise
good sense and perhaps ask. Which is why most of them has never been
removed, I suppose :-)  Though lately, Dan and Glenn have spearheaded
a big cleanup, so times, they are a-changing.

    Juanma

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