Long options for psql in 7.1.3

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Here's a lovely message I got from `psql':

g9genarc@eddie:~$ psql -h /var/pgsql --help
psql was compiled without support for long options.
Use --help for help on invocation options.

Looks as though --help and --verbose always work, no
matter what the setting of HAVE_GETOPT_LONG.
Is this desired behavior? Seems fairly minor to me,
but it's confused at least one user. :)

(~ line 110 of src/bin/psql/startup.c)

Greg Sabino Mullane
greg@turnstep.com
PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200110051402

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Here's a lovely message I got from `psql':

g9genarc@eddie:~$ psql -h /var/pgsql --help
psql was compiled without support for long options.
Use --help for help on invocation options.

Looks as though --help and --verbose always work, no
matter what the setting of HAVE_GETOPT_LONG.
Is this desired behavior? Seems fairly minor to me,
but it's confused at least one user. :)

(~ line 110 of src/bin/psql/startup.c)

Intended. I think we hard-coded --help and --version for compatibility.
You will notice it doesn't _display_ the long options in the --help
display unless HAVE_GETOPT_LONG is defined.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
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  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Arcady Genkin writes:

g9genarc@eddie:~$ psql -h /var/pgsql --help
psql was compiled without support for long options.
Use --help for help on invocation options.

I guess that it was confused by having both options at once, since
"psql --help" works fine (i.e. the long options *do* work).

While this message is confusing, it's factually correct. ;-)

We used to have -? as the universal help option, but that

a) doesn't work in csh

b) doesn't play well with getopt(3)

So --help was the next best (or even better IMHO) choice, and to support
it on all installations we had to give it some special treatment.

--
Peter Eisentraut peter_e@gmx.net http://funkturm.homeip.net/~peter

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:

g9genarc@eddie:~$ psql -h /var/pgsql --help
psql was compiled without support for long options.
Use --help for help on invocation options.

I guess that it was confused by having both options at once, since
"psql --help" works fine (i.e. the long options *do* work).

While this message is confusing, it's factually correct. ;-)

Yes, confusing it is.

[...]

So --help was the next best (or even better IMHO) choice, and to support
it on all installations we had to give it some special treatment.

That's fine, but IMO "psql -h /var/pgsql --help" and "psql --help"
should either both work, or both not work. Of course, this is not a
huge issue, but it did make me rub my eyes (to make sure I wasn't
seeing a ghost) the first time I've encountered it. :)

Thanks,
--
Arcady Genkin

Arcady Genkin writes:

That's fine, but IMO "psql -h /var/pgsql --help" and "psql --help"
should either both work, or both not work.

I don't think so.

--
Peter Eisentraut peter_e@gmx.net http://funkturm.homeip.net/~peter

On 4 Oct 2001, Arcady Genkin wrote:

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:

g9genarc@eddie:~$ psql -h /var/pgsql --help
psql was compiled without support for long options.
Use --help for help on invocation options.

I guess that it was confused by having both options at once, since
"psql --help" works fine (i.e. the long options *do* work).

While this message is confusing, it's factually correct. ;-)

Yes, confusing it is.

[...]

So --help was the next best (or even better IMHO) choice, and to support
it on all installations we had to give it some special treatment.

That's fine, but IMO "psql -h /var/pgsql --help" and "psql --help"
should either both work, or both not work. Of course, this is not a
huge issue, but it did make me rub my eyes (to make sure I wasn't
seeing a ghost) the first time I've encountered it. :)

On a related matter, psql --help doesn't display the long forms even though they're evidently enabled:

[pgtest@numbat pgtest]$ psql --help
This is psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Usage:
psql [options] [dbname [username]]

Options:
-a Echo all input from script
-A Unaligned table output mode (-P format=unaligned)
-c COMMAND Run only single command (SQL or internal) and exit
-d DBNAME Specify database name to connect to (default: pgtest)
-e Echo commands sent to server
-E Display queries that internal commands generate
-f FILENAME Execute commands from file, then exit
-F STRING Set field separator (default: "|") (-P fieldsep=)
-h HOSTNAME Specify database server host (default: local socket)
-H HTML table output mode (-P format=html)
-l List available databases, then exit
-n Disable enhanced command line editing (readline)
-o FILENAME Send query results to file (or |pipe)
-p PORT Specify database server port (default: 5433)
-P VAR[=ARG] Set printing option 'VAR' to 'ARG' (see \pset command)
-q Run quietly (no messages, only query output)
-R STRING Set record separator (default: newline) (-P recordsep=)
-s Single step mode (confirm each query)
-S Single line mode (end of line terminates SQL command)
-t Print rows only (-P tuples_only)
-T TEXT Set HTML table tag attributes (width, border) (-P tableattr=)
-U NAME Specify database user name (default: pgtest)
-v NAME=VALUE Set psql variable 'NAME' to 'VALUE'
-V Show version information and exit
-W Prompt for password (should happen automatically)
-x Turn on expanded table output (-P expanded)
-X Do not read startup file (~/.psqlrc)

For more information, type "\?" (for internal commands) or "\help"
(for SQL commands) from within psql, or consult the psql section in
the PostgreSQL documentation.

Report bugs to <pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org>.
[pgtest@numbat pgtest]$ psql --host
psql: option `--host' requires an argument
Try 'psql --help' for more information.
[pgtest@numbat pgtest]$ psql --version
psql (PostgreSQL) 7.2devel
contains support for: readline, history
Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2001, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
Portions Copyright (c) 1996, Regents of the University of California
Read the file COPYRIGHT or use the command \copyright to see the
usage and distribution terms.
[pgtest@numbat pgtest]$