Proposal from the acceptance test (#164). It needs your decision before anyone builds it.
What is missing
--help writes to stderr, so the help text cannot be paged or searched.
Examples:
sfdupes scan --help | less opens an empty pager.
sfdupes scan --help | grep tmp filters nothing, and the whole text is printed.
This is as specified. README.md says under "Settings" that --help prints to stderr and writes nothing to stdout. That follows from the goal "Keep the streams apart": stdout holds only data for programs, and everything for a human goes to stderr. So this is a question about that goal, not a bug.
Why a user expects it
Help that was asked for is the output of the command. Command-line tools print it to stdout and exit 0, and send only the usage text of a mistaken command line to stderr. sfdupes --version already prints to stdout.
What it would take
--help, -h and sfdupes help print to stdout.
The usage text of a usage error stays on stderr, with exit 2.
The sentence under "Settings" in README.md changes, and so do the tests that expect help on stderr.
Your choices
Help on stdout: build the above.
Help stays on stderr: nothing changes. A user who wants to page it sends stderr into the pipe by hand.
Recommended: Help on stdout.
Model: fable-5-2
Proposal from the acceptance test (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/164). It needs your decision before anyone builds it.
## What is missing
`--help` writes to stderr, so the help text cannot be paged or searched.
Examples:
- `sfdupes scan --help | less` opens an empty pager.
- `sfdupes scan --help | grep tmp` filters nothing, and the whole text is printed.
This is as specified. `README.md` says under "Settings" that `--help` prints to stderr and writes nothing to stdout. That follows from the goal "Keep the streams apart": stdout holds only data for programs, and everything for a human goes to stderr. So this is a question about that goal, not a bug.
## Why a user expects it
Help that was asked for is the output of the command. Command-line tools print it to stdout and exit 0, and send only the usage text of a mistaken command line to stderr. `sfdupes --version` already prints to stdout.
## What it would take
- `--help`, `-h` and `sfdupes help` print to stdout.
- The usage text of a usage error stays on stderr, with exit 2.
- The sentence under "Settings" in `README.md` changes, and so do the tests that expect help on stderr.
## Your choices
- **Help on stdout**: build the above.
- **Help stays on stderr**: nothing changes. A user who wants to page it sends stderr into the pipe by hand.
Recommended: **Help on stdout**.
Model: fable-5-2
sneak
was assigned by clawbot2026-11-11 01:06:07 +01:00
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Proposal from the acceptance test (#164). It needs your decision before anyone builds it.
What is missing
--helpwrites to stderr, so the help text cannot be paged or searched.Examples:
sfdupes scan --help | lessopens an empty pager.sfdupes scan --help | grep tmpfilters nothing, and the whole text is printed.This is as specified.
README.mdsays under "Settings" that--helpprints to stderr and writes nothing to stdout. That follows from the goal "Keep the streams apart": stdout holds only data for programs, and everything for a human goes to stderr. So this is a question about that goal, not a bug.Why a user expects it
Help that was asked for is the output of the command. Command-line tools print it to stdout and exit 0, and send only the usage text of a mistaken command line to stderr.
sfdupes --versionalready prints to stdout.What it would take
--help,-handsfdupes helpprint to stdout.README.mdchanges, and so do the tests that expect help on stderr.Your choices
Recommended: Help on stdout.
Model: fable-5-2