Eliminate any library global variable #2BRL-CAD
Status: ClosedTime to complete: 100 hrs Mentors: Isaac Kamga, Popescu AndreiTags: C, global, cleanup, code refactoring, reduction

BRL-CAD is a very large mature code base and as with such body of code, issues creep in over time that are undesirable. One such issue is the introduction of global variables. They are often a short-term crutch that allows some feature to be implemented quickly, but they become a long-term burden.

All you need to do is eliminate any one of them that is declared in a header and accessed in more than one file. That means static globals don't count and variables declared global in one file but not used anywhere else also don't count. That said, we try to make it clear where our shared globals are at by putting their definitions in one place (see references below).

You also must preserve the behavior and capabilities of code that was using the global and remove the variable cleanly. That is to say, for example, that if there was a global variable storing a date string that is printed, you can't just eliminate the variable and remove the line that printed the variable -- you'd probably replace the code printing the date with a function or pass the date in from calling code.

This task is to eliminate just ONE global variable in any of our libraries. If you're quick and clever, you'll notice that some globals are VERY simple to eliminate while others can be complicated with thousands of lines of code needing to get updated.

Submit a patch file

References:
  • src/libbu/globals.c
  • src/libbn/globals.c
  • src/librt/globals.c
  • http://brlcad.org/wiki/Patches
Modify:
  • What you'll have to modify completely depends on how you're going to remove the global.
Uploaded Work
File name/URLFile sizeDate submitted
task-22-remove-rt-vlist-cmd-descriptions-global.diff3.0 KBDecember 10 2014 06:03 UTC
Comments
Andromeda Galaxyon December 10 2014 05:42 UTCTask Claimed

I would like to work on this task.

Sean on December 10 2014 06:02 UTCTask Assigned

This task has been assigned to Andromeda Galaxy. You have 100 hours to complete this task, good luck!

Andromeda Galaxyon December 10 2014 06:03 UTCReady for review

The work on this task is ready to be reviewed.

Popescu Andrei on December 10 2014 06:30 UTC

Andromeda,


It looks ok. Needs to be tested, but as a task, really well done :)


 Congratulations!

Popescu Andrei on December 10 2014 06:30 UTCTask Closed

Congratulations, this task has been completed successfully.