What should Python apps do when asked to show help?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2016-04-28, Random832 <random832 at fastmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2016, at 13:33, Grant Edwards wrote:
>> As long as -? -h --help just write stuff to stdout you can add
>> whatever other options you like that run pagers, start up web
>> browsers, or show mp4 movies on the wall without annoying grouchy old
>> Unix users like me.  ;)
>
> One disadvantage is that you have to compose two forms of documentation.

Only if you want two forms of documentation.

If you add an option to run the help info through a pager, I don't see
how that requires you to compose two forms for documentation.  If you
want both plaintext and video help, then yes you'll have to prepare
two forms of documentation.

> I suspect this is why git [command] --help just opens the
> manpage. (It helps that man itself just sends output to stdout when
> not outputting to a tty... though it's very annoying that on Windows
> it opens it in a web browser instead.)

I don't understand.

If you want your comand-line help info to be in manpage format, that
doesn't mean you have to run it through a pager or open a new window
running the man command, just write the formatted text to stdout.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! My mind is making
                                  at               ashtrays in Dayton ...
                              gmail.com