Re: Parsing Pod::Text

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Re^2: Parsing Pod::Text by leocharre (Priest) on Jul 17, 2009 at 14:12 UTC
There's something to be said about what the user expects. On posix, I expect all cli stuff to roughly do the following when something goes wrong.. If an internal error occurred, I don't see the manual or usage examples, I see what the error message is, the thing really dies out. If there's a usage error, or a missing argument or I see the -h or --help flag, I expect to see the brief usage statement.. such as: `command-name [OPTIONS].. OTHERARGS.. Brief one sentence description of command usefulness. -h help -v version -o other command flag -a string this one takes an arg For more info, try 'man command-name'` [download] And that's it, period.. no manual info this far. Just a brief warning maybe, and usage. Maybe not even usage if you don't want to - unless they ask for -h(elp), but an error. See the 'locate' command for example of this, try 'locate', and you get warning, try 'locate -h' and you get brief usage, try 'man locate' and you get the whole enchillada. If the user specifially request the manual- then I show the manual, all of it- that pertains to that command.	[reply] [d/l]

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Re^2: Parsing Pod::Text
by leocharre (Priest) on Jul 17, 2009 at 14:12 UTC

If an internal error occurred, I don't see the manual or usage examples, I see what the error message is, the thing really dies out.
If there's a usage error, or a missing argument or I see the -h or --help flag, I expect to see the brief usage statement.. such as:
```
command-name [OPTIONS].. OTHERARGS..
Brief one sentence description of command usefulness.
   -h          help
   -v          version
   -o          other command flag
   -a string   this one takes an arg
For more info, try 'man command-name'
[download]
```
And that's it, period.. no manual info this far. Just a brief warning maybe, and usage. Maybe not even usage if you don't want to - unless they ask for -h(elp), but an error.
See the 'locate' command for example of this, try 'locate', and you get warning, try 'locate -h' and you get brief usage, try 'man locate' and you get the whole enchillada.
If the user specifially request the manual- then I show the manual, all of it- that pertains to that command.