The attached patch shows the usage information when no argument is given to apt-mark.
--- apt-mark.orig 2010-03-04 16:23:23.450331213 +0100
+++ apt-mark 2010-03-04 16:27:30.974347744 +0100
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@
else:
STATE_FILE=options.filename
+ if len(args) == 0:
+ parser.error("first argument must be 'markauto', 'unmarkauto' or 'showauto'")
+
if args[0] == "showauto":
show_automatic(STATE_FILE)
else:
