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Posted to dev@subversion.apache.org by Max Bowsher <ma...@ukf.net> on 2005/01/27 23:44:16 UTC
Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Martin A. Brooks wrote:
> Hi
>
> To me, this seems unintuitive:
>
> boole:~# svn
> Type 'svn help' for usage.
>
> How about assuming that, when an svn command that takes arguments is
> given none, 'help' is implied as the argument.
>
> So 'svn' with no arguments would become 'svn help' however 'svn up'
> which is happy with no arguments doesn't.
No, this is deliberate.
"svn" is a meaningless errorful invocation. So, you get a message to that
effect.
Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets easily
lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
Max.
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Max Bowsher <ma...@ukf.net>.
Julian Foad wrote:
> Max Bowsher wrote:
>> "svn" is a meaningless errorful invocation. So, you get a message to
>> that effect.
>>
>> Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets
>> easily lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
>
> I agree with that philosophy. Sadly, we don't follow it consistently.
> For
> example, "svn copy a b c" gives no error message but instead gives the
> full
> help text for "svn copy".
>
> Would anyone object to us following that philosophy consistently? ("svn
> copy
> a b c" would then give an error message and not show the full help text.)
+1
Max.
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RE: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Dale Worley <dw...@pingtel.com>.
-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Foad [mailto:julianfoad@btopenworld.com]
Would anyone object to us following that philosophy consistently? ("svn
copy a
b c" would then give an error message and not show the full help text.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In the instance you quote, it would be a very good idea -- I've seen two
posters already asking why "svn copy foo* dir" didn't work.
So I'd say that was evidence that "following that philosophy consistently"
is a good idea.
Dale
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when
none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Julian Foad <ju...@btopenworld.com>.
Max Bowsher wrote:
> "svn" is a meaningless errorful invocation. So, you get a message to
> that effect.
>
> Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets
> easily lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
I agree with that philosophy. Sadly, we don't follow it consistently. For
example, "svn copy a b c" gives no error message but instead gives the full
help text for "svn copy".
Would anyone object to us following that philosophy consistently? ("svn copy a
b c" would then give an error message and not show the full help text.)
- Julian
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Steve Greenland <st...@lsli.com>.
On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 12:16:35AM +0000, Martin A. Brooks wrote:
> 'svn' is not a meaningless errorful invocation, from the user's point of
> view, it's "I wonder what 'svn' does".
Anyone who as the habit of typing random commands "to find out what it
does" needs to unlearn that habit in hurry.
Steve
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask
about Exchange Server next.
-- (Stolen from the net)
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when
none is given and at least one is required
Posted by "Martin A. Brooks" <ma...@hinterlands.org>.
Max Bowsher wrote:
> No, this is deliberate.
>
> "svn" is a meaningless errorful invocation. So, you get a message to
> that effect.
>
> Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets
> easily lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
I understand your point, however I disagree :)
'svn' is not a meaningless errorful invocation, from the user's point of
view, it's "I wonder what 'svn' does". Given that the only option
suggested when 'svn' is typed is 'type svn help' then why not short
circuit the process? If other options were suggested then I'd agree with
you, as it stands the impression given is "hahaha, you did it wrong, so
rather than be helpful I'm now going to make you beg for help", if you
see what I mean :)
Mart.
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Ed MacDonald <ed...@hotmail.com>.
You don't have to cat the man page, but a little usage info is certainly not
unheard of. Try typing "ssh" or "grep" without arguments on your favorite
OS.
I would suggest a two or three liner that showed the basic syntax: svn
<command> followed by a wide listing of the available commands. The last
line should say type 'svn help [<command>]' for more information.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Greenland" <st...@lsli.com>
To: <us...@subversion.tigris.org>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 8:55 AM
Subject: Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when
none is given and at least one is required
> On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 11:44:16PM -0000, Max Bowsher wrote:
> > Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets
easily
> > lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
>
> +1
>
> I ran into this myself on another program just the other day. I kept
> getting usage messages, and couldn't figure out what I was mistyping;
> the answer, of course, was that I *wasn't* mistyping anything: but the
> actual error message kept scrolling off the terminal.
>
> Steve
>
> --
> "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask
> about Exchange Server next.
> -- (Stolen from the net)
>
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>
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Re: reposted feature request: assume 'help' as the argument when none is given and at least one is required
Posted by Steve Greenland <st...@lsli.com>.
On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 11:44:16PM -0000, Max Bowsher wrote:
> Errors should never auto-display usage, because then the error gets easily
> lost, made much less visible compared to the large help text.
+1
I ran into this myself on another program just the other day. I kept
getting usage messages, and couldn't figure out what I was mistyping;
the answer, of course, was that I *wasn't* mistyping anything: but the
actual error message kept scrolling off the terminal.
Steve
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask
about Exchange Server next.
-- (Stolen from the net)
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