Command line inconsistency

wrohdewald · January 23, 2023, 8:00am

restic 0.15.0

I noticed that values for flags can mostly be passed in both ways

--limit-download 4
--limit-download=4

but --verbose only accepts

--verbose=4

Since the value for --verbose is mandatory I wonder why this is so

restic snapshots --limit-download 10 --no-cache --verbose 4 --password-file pw  --repo repo
repository 71c93ff2 opened (version 1)
Ignoring "4": multiple IDs with prefix "4" found

rawtaz · January 23, 2023, 8:21am

github.com/restic/restic

`-v` / `--verbose` does not behave as specified in `--help`

opened 08:26AM - 11 Sep 22 UTC

petervaro

type: feature enhancement category: user interface

## Output of `restic version` ```none restic 0.14.0 compiled with go1.19 on …linux/amd64 ``` ## How did you run restic exactly? ```bash $ restic backup --help $ restic backup <source> --repo <target> --verbose 3 ``` ## What backend/server/service did you use to store the repository? Local. ## Expected behavior I expect `-v` / `--verbose` to be able to handle `--verbose n` form without the need for `=` symbol. The reason for this is not only the help text suggests its usage this way (on the left, it says `-v, --verbose n`, on the right it illustrates as `--verbose=n`) but virtually all other flags are able to handle their arguments this way. ## Actual behavior Only `--verbose=n` form is accepted at the moment. Using it in the form of `--verbose 3` results in ignoring the flag and its argument: ```text 3 does not exist, skipping open repository enter password for repository: ``` ## Steps to reproduce the behavior As described above, just pass down a level after the `--verbose` flag with at least 1 whitespace character between the flag and its argument. ## Do you have any idea what may have caused this? Without looking at the source, I imagine this is caused by the fact the `-v` / `--verbose` can be defined multiple times, as well as it can take an explicit argument. ## Do you have an idea how to solve the issue? The simplest solution would be to set expectations right - if `-v` / `--verbose` should use the `=` then that's how it should be presented in the `--help`. The more complex solution would be to support the above form described in the 'Expected behaviour' chapter which would very likely mean removing the support to specify `-v` / `--verbose` multiple times in favour of the explicit level / times form. The most complex solution would be to support all forms, defining the flag n times, as well as, being able to specify the level explicitly in both `-v=n` and `-v n` forms. ## Did restic help you today? Did it make you happy in any way? So far, definitely :heart: