[Nvorzula]

Here's one that always has me stare at the screen, quietly, in disbelief.

1. Carefully read and grok a small-to-medium sized module. 2. Notice that although the style is not the "official" style of that language, that it is very consistent and legible. 3. Contribute a small change in that exact same style, such that no one would know that it was a different author if they did not look at the git blame. 4. Get a condescending comment from the first author asking that you, "read and follow the official BLANK style guide".

[z3t4]

I rather work with you then the other guy. If you add your changes using the new style guide, it will look weird and someone will complain. If you rewrite it all, someone will complain because it was a waste of time. Whatever you do, it will be wrong. The solution is to go ask the most senor and respected dev what to do, then redirect to him/her when others complain. =)

[yxhuvud]

I'd create an initial separate commit with only style changes and then have my new or changed code follow the code standard. The code converges very fast if everyone does that.

[Izkata]

Caveat: Try to time it carefully if the code is being actively developed, to reduce risk of merge conflicts and annoyances to the rest of the team. It just leads to a lot of "stop doing that!" and further resistance to that kind of refactoring.

[kronin]

1,000x this. A simple refactor commit, with a comment stating "reformat to match current coding standards. No functional changes".

[inertiatic]

Well, this makes sense somewhat. Files will be edited incrementally to the point that nothing remains from the original. If you follow your strategy, the original style remains there until a large rewrite. If you make a point to always follow the official style, then at some point you'll automagically have a consistent codebase.

[loeg]

I disagree that incrementally converting style is helpful. It's best to be consistent in a given file or module. Convert wholesale if so desired.

[mhotchen]

I think it depends on your environment. I've been in situations where code styles have progressed and changed over the years, faster than the file does, so you end up with a hodgepodge of different styles.