Usage of an auto formatter for repository

[jacomago]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to add an autoformatter such as https://github.com/diffplug/spotless/tree/main/plugin-maven or https://github.com/spotify/fmt-maven-plugin so the formatting is the same for every developer regardless of IDE.

From #3653 (comment)

[jacomago]

@kasemir in regards to #3653 (comment)

I think probably you can get whatever you want into the format setup, the number of options is quite extensive. However, that is not my point for using an autoformatter. For me, it doesn't matter so much what style an auto-formatter produces, but that it is the same every time regardless of the machine it is running on. This gives the benefit that it can be checked in CI, and a developer and code reviewer doesn't need to worry about it. As well, it keeps a consistency between commits, that commits don't integrate style changes.

Personally, I would prefer that the code is formatted to a 'standard' style that is used the most in the java community. For example using the 'palantir' style with no configuration changes. I think this makes the code friendlier to new developers who know Java but not phoebus (such as me when I started working in the phoebus community). But as I said, I think the style chosen is a different question as to whether to use an auto-formatter.