[prev] [thread] [next] [lurker] [Date index for 2006/05/25]
On Thu, 25 May 2006 12:11:09 -0500, David Champion <dgc@xxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
> * On 2006.05.25, in <20060525184438.0926fa9d@pc09>,
> * "H.Merijn Brand" <h.m.brand@xxxxxx.xx> wrote:
> >
> > Huh? I've been using UNIX since 1982. Long enough? I started with System III,
> > and then got cought in a job that involved writing Unic Device drivers for
> > SLD disks. I've never seen a UNIX command from that time that did not support
> > -?
>
> Many commands do/did -?. Many also do/did -h. I don't care which one
> anyone thinks is better, just that -h has a record. Maybe -? should
> still work, too, but it doesn't mean that -h should't.
>
> In 1982 on System III machines, how many programs that you recall
> supported "--help"?
None :)
By that time double-dashed options were not yet common.
> > > But the larger point is that an exception occurs (-h is not recognized
> > > as an option) which triggers an error message. Given the history of
> > > -h, why should that error not be help itself, rather than metahelp?
> >
> > Not at all. It should be saved for something useful.
>
> Help isn't useful? That's the single most useful option on any command.
> It should be easy to get, and "--help" isn't a first choice for many
> people and it's not supported on a HUGE number of programs.
>
> But we're talking about commands that don't use -h for anything else,
> anyway.
But we're talking about commands that don't use -h *YET* for
anything else, anyway.
All my perl scripts that are for public consumption or are to stand time
start with something like
--8<---
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
sub usage
{
print STDERR "usage: $0 [-i infile] [-o outfile]\n";
exit;
} # usage
@ARGV == 1 and $ARGV [0] eq "-?" || $ARGV[0] =~ m/^-+help$/ and usage;
:
-->8---
even if I plan to use Getopt::Long later on.
> > Yes, to all those that only support info pages, and make their -?, --help, or
> > even -h tell us to read the info pages.
> >
> > info pages are useless. Give me plain man pages please, *AND* a useful --help
> > or -?
>
> +1.
>
> Also hate on netpbm for not only removing the built-in usage statements
> and telling us to read the man page instead, but for additionally
> removing the actual man-page content and pointing us to a web site.
>
> unix$ pnmtops -h
> option `--height' requires an argument
>
> unix$ pnmtops --help
> pnmtops: Use 'man pnmtops' for help.
>
> unix$ man pnmtops
> pnmtops(1) Netpbm pointer man pages pnmtops(1)
>
> pnmtops is part of the Netpbm package. Netpbm documentation is kept in HTML
> format.
>
> Please refer to <http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc//pnmtops.html>;.
>
> If that doesn't work, also try <http://netpbm.sourceforge.net>; and emailing
> Bryan Henderson, bryanh@xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.
>
> 30 Mar 2003 Netpbm pnmtops(1)
>
> unix$ !! | mailx -s 'Are you responsible for this, you bloody retard?' bryanh@xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
>
> *seethe* The "net" in "netpbm" never used to mean that you needed a
> network to use the software.
This example is worth a separate HATE on itself !
--
H.Merijn Brand Amsterdam Perl Mongers (http://amsterdam.pm.org/)
using & porting perl 5.6.2, 5.8.x, 5.9.x on HP-UX 10.20, 11.00, 11.11,
& 11.23, SuSE 10.0, AIX 4.3 & 5.2, and Cygwin. http://qa.perl.org
http://mirrors.develooper.com/hpux/ http://www.test-smoke.org
http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/
There's stuff above here
Generated at 09:00 on 29 May 2006 by mariachi 0.52