[cfe-dev] [llvm-dev] [RFC] Adding support for clang-format making further code modifying changes

[Andrew Tomazos via cfe-dev]

On Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 1:52 PM Arthur O'Dwyer via cfe-dev <
cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

> But because it (has the potential to) change the token sequence, it is *qualitatively
> more dangerous* than a formatter that merely reformats the existing token
> sequence.
>

Formally new-line is not a preprocessing-token, but it is effectively, as
it is referred to as a terminal in the preprocessor grammar.  If we
consider a new-line a preprocessor token, then I think it is almost the
case that any source code change that does not change the preprocessor
token sequence is unobservable in the final program.  (For the true pedants
there is std::source_location::column.)

But regardless of the formal proof:  I think most people perceive the two
general buckets "whitespace formatting" and "non-whitespace refactoring",
and that the latter is more dangerous.  Hence the suggestion of shipping
two different frontend programs to help users isolate those two buckets if
they so desire.
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