Jeff King <peff@xxxxxxxx> writes:
> Documentation/CodingGuidelines says:
>
> - We avoid using braces unnecessarily. I.e.
>
> if (bla) {
> x = 1;
> }
>
> is frowned upon. A gray area is when the statement extends
> over a few lines, and/or you have a lengthy comment atop of
> it. Also, like in the Linux kernel, if there is a long list
> of "else if" statements, it can make sense to add braces to
> single line blocks.
>
> I think this is pretty clearly the "gray area" mentioned there. Which
> yes, does not say "definitely do it this way", but I hope makes it clear
> that you're supposed to use judgement about readability.
I always took "gray area" to mean "we do not have strong preference
either way, i.e.
* It is OK for you to write your new code in either style (the
usual "match existing style in surrounding code" applies,
obviously);
* It is not OK for you to churn the codebase with a patch that only
changes existing code to flip between the two styles.