GNU Coding Standards

Table of Contents

• Version
• 1 About the GNU Coding Standards
• 2 Keeping Free Software Free
  • 2.1 Referring to Proprietary Programs
  • 2.2 Accepting Contributions
  • 2.3 Trademarks
• 3 General Program Design
  • 3.1 Which Languages to Use
  • 3.2 Compatibility with Other Implementations
  • 3.3 Using Non-standard Features
  • 3.4 Standard C and Pre-Standard C
  • 3.5 Conditional Compilation
• 4 Program Behavior for All Programs
  • 4.1 Non-GNU Standards
  • 4.2 Writing Robust Programs
  • 4.3 Library Behavior
  • 4.4 Formatting Error Messages
  • 4.5 Standards for Interfaces Generally
  • 4.6 Standards for Graphical Interfaces
  • 4.7 Standards for Command Line Interfaces
    • 4.7.1 --version
    • 4.7.2 --help
  • 4.8 Table of Long Options
  • 4.9 Memory Usage
  • 4.10 File Usage
• 5 Making The Best Use of C
  • 5.1 Formatting Your Source Code
  • 5.2 Commenting Your Work
  • 5.3 Clean Use of C Constructs
  • 5.4 Naming Variables, Functions, and Files
  • 5.5 Portability between System Types
  • 5.6 Portability between cpus
  • 5.7 Calling System Functions
  • 5.8 Internationalization
  • 5.9 Character Set
  • 5.10 Quote Characters
  • 5.11 Mmap
• 6 Documenting Programs
  • 6.1 GNU Manuals
  • 6.2 Doc Strings and Manuals
  • 6.3 Manual Structure Details
  • 6.4 License for Manuals
  • 6.5 Manual Credits
  • 6.6 Printed Manuals
  • 6.7 The NEWS File
  • 6.8 Change Logs
    • 6.8.1 Change Log Concepts
    • 6.8.2 Style of Change Logs
    • 6.8.3 Simple Changes
    • 6.8.4 Conditional Changes
    • 6.8.5 Indicating the Part Changed
  • 6.9 Man Pages
  • 6.10 Reading other Manuals
• 7 The Release Process
  • 7.1 How Configuration Should Work
  • 7.2 Makefile Conventions
    • 7.2.1 General Conventions for Makefiles
    • 7.2.2 Utilities in Makefiles
    • 7.2.3 Variables for Specifying Commands
    • 7.2.4 DESTDIR: support for staged installs
    • 7.2.5 Variables for Installation Directories
    • 7.2.6 Standard Targets for Users
    • 7.2.7 Install Command Categories
  • 7.3 Making Releases
• 8 References to Non-Free Software and Documentation
• Appendix A GNU Free Documentation License
• Index