[Python-Dev] whitespace normalization

[Duncan Booth]

"Neal Norwitz" <nnorwitz at gmail.com> wrote in 
news:ee2a432c0704242352w5a489a98sd1520427737dda6c at mail.gmail.com:

> I just checked in a whitespace normalization change that was way too
> big.  Should this task be automated?

IMHO, changing whitespace retrospectively in a version control system is a 
bad idea.

How much overhead would it be to have a checkin hook which compares each 
modified file against the output of running reindent.py over the same file 
and rejects the checkin if it changes anything? (With of course an 
appropriate message suggesting the use of Reindent.py before reatttempting 
the checkin).

That way the whitespace ought to stay normalized so you shouldn't need a 
separate cleanup step and you won't be breaking diff and blame for the 
sources (and if the reindent does ever break anything it should be more 
tracable).