Thread: Long options for psql in 7.1.3
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. I guess that it was confused by having both options at once, since "psql --help" works fine (i.e. the long options *do* work). Thanks, -- Arcady Genkin
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 > 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 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Comment: http://www.turnstep.com/pgp.html iQA/AwUBO7ykZbybkGcUlkrIEQLoWgCfRrAic8XuPtLUhVK01p bjWZrA/tkAniaB 0RQqHC+el2wFO1I/Bi70WTVh =49Hm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-- Start of PGP signed section. > > 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 + If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + 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]$