Re: [PATCH 04/10] shell helpers usage: always send help to stderr

From: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Date: May 2, 2016, 23:44 UTC
Message-ID: <CAGZ79ka7uPxLKVU7Dn-4yHyN1BMgeG33_7LJDShF3UVjrT2fgQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqtwigox9x.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 4:28 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com> writes:
>
>> `git submodule asdf` would trigger displaying the usage of the submodule
>> command on stderr, however `git submodule -h` would display the usage on
>> stdout. Unify displaying help for shell commands on stderr.
>
> The primary output from "git cmd --help" is the usage message.  It
> is debatable why it should go to the standard error output when it
> is the primary thing the user asked for.

I had written some lengthy arguments, but when I wanted to back up with data and facts, the first search result[1] convinced me this is a bad patch as when a user asks for help specifically, they want it to easily be piped, i.e.

    git --help |grep pull

instead of

    git --help 2>&1 |grep pull

So I'll drop this patch. Thanks, Stefan

[1] http://www.jstorimer.com/blogs/workingwithcode/7766119-when-to-use-stderr-instead-of-stdout

Show 21 quoted lines

>
>
>
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
>> ---
>>  git-sh-setup.sh | 2 +-
>>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/git-sh-setup.sh b/git-sh-setup.sh
>> index c48139a..5c02446 100644
>> --- a/git-sh-setup.sh
>> +++ b/git-sh-setup.sh
>> @@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ say () {
>>
>>  if test -n "$OPTIONS_SPEC"; then
>>       usage() {
>> -             "$0" -h
>> +             "$0" -h 1>&2
>>               exit 1
>>       }