[Python-Dev] bug or feature? fixing argparse's default help value for version actions

Steven Bethard steven.bethard at gmail.com
Thu May 20 18:18:45 CEST 2010


Sorry I haven't had time to get around to the argparse issues. I
should have time this weekend. I need a release manager call on one of
the issues though. Two things I assume are fine to fix at this stage:

* In the documentation, the '--version' example should either not use
a shorthand, or should use the conventional '-V'
* In the documentation, the difference between the argparse and
optparse ways of specifying versions needs to be mentioned in the
section on migrating from optparse.

One thing I'm not sure about:

* Right now, the default help value for the version action is None,
which is pretty useless since it means that everyone has to type in
the same help="show program's version number and exit" when they use
the version action. Instead, the string "show program's version number
and exit" should have been the default value for the help argument. To
be explicit, right now everyone who adds a version to their argument
parser has to write:

  parser.add_argument('-V', action='version', version='<the version>',
help="show program's version number and exit")

With the fixed default value you would only have to write:

  parser.add_argument('-V', action='version', version='<the version>')

Can this be considered a bug, i.e. something that can be committed
before the RC? Or does it need to be considered a feature, i.e. at
this point can never be added to Python 2.7?

Thanks, and sorry again for not having time for this until now,

Steve
-- 
Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
Did Steve tell you that?
        --- The Hiphopopotamus


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