Hello, * Stefano Lattarini wrote on Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 05:28:30PM CET: > On Thursday 18 November 2010, Eric Blake wrote: > > On 11/18/2010 08:22 AM, Stefano Lattarini wrote: > > > Currently, automake and aclocal scan their command line looking for > > > `--help' and `--version' even after an invalid option has been seen; > > > and in case one of those two options is seen, it takes precedence > > > even over error reporting about preceding invalid options. > > > > GNU Coding Standards _only_ require that --help and --version be > > recognized as the first argument, with no other arguments. > > When possible, recognizing --help and --version after other arguments, > > or with other arguments afterwards, is nice, but there are no rules > > that require that consistency.
> Not exactly. The GNU Coding Standards read (my emphasis): > > ``The standard --version option should direct the program to print > information about its name, version, origin and legal status, all > on standard output, and then exit successfully. Other options and > arguments should be ignored *once this is seen*, and the program > should not perform its normal function.'' > > So it means that the behaviour of GNU m4 (and the other mentioned > programs) is compliant with the GCS, while the automake behaviour > is "overzealous" in this respect. I think the GCS should be adjusted then. IIUC then GNU has valued usability over implementation simplicity. I think --help should work whereever it is put on a command line, except after -- or right after an option which requires an argument (or at least GCS should allow for this behavior). The point being that I type $ foo --zork --barf foo: blabla error, see --help and then type <up><space>--help<enter> to find out more. Let's address this on bug-standards before changing any programs. Thanks, Ralf
