[issue14102] argparse: add ability to create a man page

Louie Lu report at bugs.python.org
Wed Apr 19 06:13:26 EDT 2017


Louie Lu added the comment:

> How to use this feature?
> argparse is executed every time when the end user runs the program.
> But generating a man page is the action that should be executed at
> develop or build stage.
> ...
> How generating a man page should be invoked?

For now, man page will only be generated by using `print_manpage` function, and argparse won't add a shortcut like help page (-h).

Developer can use `parser.add_manpage_section` to add custom manpage section, e.g. copyright, report bugs.

The only thing that will affect it that `add_manpage_section` will be adding at runtime, but user won't used it.


> The end user gets a generated man page, he doesn't need the option to generate a man page on a fly. The developer needs the ability to generate a man page rather than running the program for its main purpose.

Yes, this patch will only offer the ability to generate man page, but if developer want to build with `setup.py`, it still need to combine them.


> What should be the structure of the program that uses argparse for parsing arguments and for generating a man page?

It won't need additional change, just used current method and it will work.

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