Print help that was asked for to stdout (closes #179)

--help, -h and the help subcommand now print to stdout and exit 0, so
the help text can be paged and searched. The usage text of a usage
error stays on stderr with exit 2. Cobra prints both through the
command's output writer, which stays stderr; the help function points
it at stdout before printing.

README "Settings" and goal 4 say so, and the help tests read stdout.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ In order:
    time, against what the database holds.
 4. **Keep the streams apart.** Everything on stdout is machine-readable data.
    Everything for a human reader, such as progress and warnings, goes to stderr.
+   The one exception is help that was asked for, which goes to stdout.
 
 ### Subcommands
 
@@ -324,12 +325,13 @@ The reference below is also the program's specification.
   "Operands").
 - `--version`, `-v` prints `sfdupes VERSION` (see "Install") to stdout and
   exits 0. It writes nothing to stderr.
-- `--help`, `-h`, alone or after a subcommand, prints the help text to stderr
+- `--help`, `-h`, alone or after a subcommand, prints the help text to stdout
-  and exits 0. It writes nothing to stdout. The help of `sfdupes` and of `scan`
+  and exits 0. It writes nothing to stderr. `sfdupes help` and
-  names the database. The help of `report`, `trees`, `info` and `dwim` says what
+  `sfdupes help COMMAND` do the same. The help of `sfdupes` and of `scan` names
-  each prints. `sfdupes scan --help` and `sfdupes dwim --help` also list the
+  the database. The help of `report`, `trees`, `info` and `dwim` says what each
-  default excludes of the system they run on, and the filesystem types the walk
+  prints. `sfdupes scan --help` and `sfdupes dwim --help` also list the default
-  never records anything on.
+  excludes of the system they run on, and the filesystem types the walk never
+  records anything on.
 
 ### Duplicate detection
 

internal/sfdupes/cli.go

@@ -201,8 +201,9 @@ func run(args []string, stdout, stderr io.Writer) int {
 }
 
 // newRootCommand builds the command tree. Everything on stdout is
-// machine-readable data, the version line included; all human-facing
+// machine-readable data, the version line included, or help that was
-// output (help, usage, errors) goes to stderr.
+// asked for. The rest of the human-facing output (usage, errors) goes
+// to stderr.
 func newRootCommand(stdout, stderr io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	var showVersion bool
 
@@ -235,11 +236,22 @@ func newRootCommand(stdout, stderr io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 			return errNoSubcommand
 		},
 	}
+	// Cobra prints the usage text of a usage error to the command's
+	// output writer, so that writer is stderr.
 	root.SetOut(stderr)
 	root.SetErr(stderr)
 	root.CompletionOptions.DisableDefaultCmd = true
 
-	// Cobra's built-in version flag prints through the help writer,
+	// Cobra's default help also prints to the output writer. Help that
+	// was asked for, with --help, -h or the help subcommand, goes to
+	// stdout instead.
+	printHelp := root.HelpFunc()
+	root.SetHelpFunc(func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+		cmd.SetOut(stdout)
+		printHelp(cmd, args)
+	})
+
+	// Cobra's built-in version flag prints to the output writer,
 	// stderr; this one prints to stdout.
 	root.Flags().BoolVarP(&showVersion, "version", "v", false,
 		"print the version to stdout")

internal/sfdupes/cli_test.go

@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ const usageMarker = "Usage:"
 // helpFlag asks for the help text.
 const helpFlag = "--help"
 
+// helpCommand is the subcommand that prints the help text.
+const helpCommand = "help"
+
 // workersFlag is the scan and dwim flag that sets the worker count.
 const workersFlag = "--workers"
 
@@ -700,9 +703,12 @@ func TestRunScanRejectsWorkersBelowOne(t *testing.T) {
 func TestRunHelp(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
-	// README §Settings: help goes to stderr, exits 0, and leaves stdout
+	// README §Settings: help goes to stdout, exits 0, and leaves stderr
 	// empty.
-	cases := [][]string{{helpFlag}, {"-h"}, {cmdScan, helpFlag}}
+	cases := [][]string{
+		{helpFlag}, {"-h"}, {helpCommand},
+		{cmdScan, helpFlag}, {helpCommand, cmdScan},
+	}
 
 	for _, args := range cases {
 		var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
@@ -712,14 +718,13 @@ func TestRunHelp(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("run(%v) = %d, want %d", args, code, exitOK)
 		}
 
-		if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), usageMarker) {
+		if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), usageMarker) {
-			t.Errorf("run(%v) stderr = %q, want the help text",
+			t.Errorf("run(%v) stdout = %q, want the help text",
-				args, stderr.String())
+				args, stdout.String())
 		}
 
-		if got := stdout.String(); got != "" {
+		if got := stderr.String(); got != "" {
-			t.Errorf("run(%v) stdout = %q, want nothing (data only)",
+			t.Errorf("run(%v) stderr = %q, want nothing", args, got)
-				args, got)
 		}
 
 		// README §Location: the help of sfdupes and of scan says where
@@ -729,9 +734,9 @@ func TestRunHelp(t *testing.T) {
 			"scan and dwim store", databaseEnv, rootDatabasePath,
 			stateHomeEnv, "~/.local/state", "not an absolute path is an error",
 		} {
-			if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), want) {
+			if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), want) {
-				t.Errorf("run(%v) stderr = %q, want it to name %q",
+				t.Errorf("run(%v) stdout = %q, want it to name %q",
-					args, stderr.String(), want)
+					args, stdout.String(), want)
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -741,8 +746,8 @@ func TestRunHelp(t *testing.T) {
 
 	run([]string{cmdScan, "-h"}, &stdout, &stderr)
 
-	if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), excludeFlag+" PATH") {
+	if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), excludeFlag+" PATH") {
-		t.Errorf("scan -h stderr = %q, want %s PATH", stderr.String(),
+		t.Errorf("scan -h stdout = %q, want %s PATH", stdout.String(),
 			excludeFlag)
 	}
 }
@@ -751,7 +756,8 @@ func TestRunScanUsageLine(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	// README §Subcommands shows this usage line for scan, and the help
-	// and the usage error both print it.
+	// and the usage error both print it. TestRunHelp and
+	// TestRunUsageErrors check which stream each goes to.
 	const want = "\n  sfdupes scan [--workers N] [-x] [--no-default-excludes] " +
 		"[--exclude PATH]... PATH...\n"
 
@@ -764,13 +770,13 @@ func TestRunScanUsageLine(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 
-			var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
+			var output bytes.Buffer
 
-			run(args, &stdout, &stderr)
+			run(args, &output, &output)
 
-			if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), want) {
+			if !strings.Contains(output.String(), want) {
-				t.Errorf("run(%v) stderr = %q, want the usage line %q",
+				t.Errorf("run(%v) output = %q, want the usage line %q",
-					args, stderr.String(), want)
+					args, output.String(), want)
 			}
 		})
 	}
@@ -836,9 +842,9 @@ func TestRunHelpDescribesOutput(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 
 		for _, want := range tc.want {
-			if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), want) {
+			if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), want) {
 				t.Errorf("run(%v) help lacks %q:\n%s",
-					args, want, stderr.String())
+					args, want, stdout.String())
 			}
 		}
 	}

internal/sfdupes/dwim_test.go

@@ -190,21 +190,21 @@ func TestRunDwimHelpListsScanFlags(t *testing.T) {
 
 	run([]string{cmdDwim, "-h"}, &stdout, &stderr)
 
-	if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), want) {
+	if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), want) {
-		t.Errorf("dwim -h stderr = %q, want the usage line %q",
+		t.Errorf("dwim -h stdout = %q, want the usage line %q",
-			stderr.String(), want)
+			stdout.String(), want)
 	}
 
-	if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), excludeFlag+" PATH") {
+	if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), excludeFlag+" PATH") {
-		t.Errorf("dwim -h stderr = %q, want %s PATH", stderr.String(),
+		t.Errorf("dwim -h stdout = %q, want %s PATH", stdout.String(),
 			excludeFlag)
 	}
 
 	// README "Settings": the help lists the default excludes and the
 	// filesystem types the walk never records anything on.
 	help := strings.TrimSpace(defaultExcludesHelp(runtime.GOOS))
-	if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), help) {
+	if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), help) {
-		t.Errorf("dwim -h stderr = %q, want it to hold %q", stderr.String(),
+		t.Errorf("dwim -h stdout = %q, want it to hold %q", stdout.String(),
 			help)
 	}
 }

internal/sfdupes/exclude_test.go

@@ -196,8 +196,8 @@ func TestDefaultExcludesHelp(t *testing.T) {
 	run([]string{cmdScan, "-h"}, &stdout, &stderr)
 
 	help := strings.TrimSpace(defaultExcludesHelp(runtime.GOOS))
-	if !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), help) {
+	if !strings.Contains(stdout.String(), help) {
-		t.Errorf("scan --help = %q, want it to hold %q", stderr.String(), help)
+		t.Errorf("scan --help = %q, want it to hold %q", stdout.String(), help)
 	}
 }