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Re: [PATCH 0/25] Usage message clean-up

From
Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date
Dec 11, 2005, 02:58 UTC
Message-ID
<7vbqzouyor.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To
<Pine.LNX.4.63.0512102349040.3083@wbgn013.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de>
Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> writes:
>> * -h and --help makes the script die with the usage message.
>
> Good.

Supporting -h and --help are good, but we probably do not want to exit with non-zero status in such a case. Not a big deal, though.

>> * The message is printed to stderr.
>
> Arguable.

One thing I really hate is a program that does more than one pageful of help message to stderr which forces me to do "blah

>&2 --help | less", but our help messages are short and sweet,
so I feel stderr is OK.
>> * The message is of the form "usage: $0 options"
>
> Not good. We are in a transition to "git whatever" from "git-whatever".

But when the user wishes to look at the manual page, he needs to say "man git-whatever", so either way you cannot win. I'm neutral either way, as long as we are consistent.

> Besides, I have to admit that I am a bit annoyed by 25 mini mails for the 
> same purpose.

I'd appreciate the flexibility of reviewing them indivudually, especially when some of them seem to change the structure of the argument parsing loop.

Previous: Johannes SchindelinNext: Nikolai Weibull
Message 33 of 34 in “Usage message clean-up”
  1. 0/25 Usage message clean-upfreku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  2. 1/25 git-bisect: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  3. 4/25 git-cherry: Print the usage message if we get an unknown option.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  4. 2/25 git-branch: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  5. 3/25 git-checkout: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  6. 9/25 git-format-patch: Use the 'die'-function where appropriate.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  7. 6/25 git-commit: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  8. 5/25 git-clone: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  9. 7/25 git-count-objects: Die with usage message if we are invoked incorrectly.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  10. Junio C HamanoDec 11, 2005
  11. 8/25 git-fetch: Print usage message if we get an unrecognized option.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  12. 10/25 git-grep: Print usage message on '-h' and '--help'.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  13. 16/25 git-push: Clean up usage messagefreku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  14. 15/25 git-pull: Don't print an extra new line at the end of the usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  15. 13/25 git-merge: Print $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  16. 16/25 git-push: Clean-up usage messagefreku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  17. 14/25 git-prune: Print $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  18. 11/25 git-revert: Fix usage messagefreku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  19. 12/25 git-lost-found: Print usage message on incorrect invocation.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  20. 19/25 git-request-pull: Print usage message to stderr.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  21. 20/25 git-reset: Use $0 instead of program name in usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  22. 17/25 git-relink: Print usage message to stderr.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  23. Junio C HamanoDec 11, 2005
  24. 18/25 git-repack: Print usage message on unrecognized option.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  25. 21/25 git-send-email: Usage message clean-up.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  26. Junio C HamanoDec 11, 2005
  27. 23/25 git-tag: Clean-up usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  28. 22/25 git-status: Print usage message on incorrect invocation.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  29. 25/25 git-mv: Clean-up usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  30. 24/25 git-verify-tag: Clean-up usage message.freku045@student.liu.se, Dec 10, 2005
  31. A Large Angry SCMDec 10, 2005
  32. Johannes SchindelinDec 10, 2005
  33. Junio C HamanoDec 11, 2005
  34. Nikolai WeibullDec 11, 2005

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