Fix --help flag and TOML config generation

[Copilot]

Two independent CLI bugs: --help silently starts the server instead of printing usage, and ./HellPot -g produces flat quoted dotted keys instead of proper TOML sections.

Changes

• internal/config/arguments.go: Add --help to the -h switch case — consistent with the help text that already advertises --help.

• internal/config/defaults.go: Replace snek.Marshal(toml.Parser()) with a direct marshal of defOpts via toml.Parser().Marshal(...). The previous call serialized koanf's flattened internal state (dotted keys), not the original nested structure.

Before:

'http.bind_addr' = '127.0.0.1'
'http.bind_port' = '8080'

After:

[http]
bind_addr = '127.0.0.1'
bind_port = '8080'

A shallow type conversion (map[string]map[string]interface{} → map[string]interface{}) is required to satisfy Marshal's signature; the inner maps are preserved and the TOML parser correctly renders them as sections.

Original prompt

Fix --help Flag and TOML Config Generation

Problems

Problem 1: --help Flag Doesn't Work

Running ./HellPot --help doesn't display help text - it just starts the server instead. Only -h works.

Root Cause:
In internal/config/arguments.go line 27:

case "-h":
    CLI.printUsage()

Only -h is handled, not --help.

Problem 2: Generated TOML Uses Quoted Dotted Keys

Running ./HellPot -g generates a config file with flat, quoted keys:

'deception.server_name' = 'nginx'
'http.bind_addr' = '127.0.0.1'
'http.bind_port' = '8080'
'logger.debug' = true

Expected: Proper TOML sections:

[deception]
server_name = 'nginx'

[http]
bind_addr = '127.0.0.1'
bind_port = '8080'

[logger]
debug = true

Root Cause:
In internal/config/defaults.go line 64, the gen() function uses:

if dat, err = snek.Marshal(toml.Parser()); err != nil {

This marshals koanf's flattened internal structure (with dotted keys) instead of the original nested structure.

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Solutions

Fix 1: Add --help Support

File: internal/config/arguments.go

Update line 27-28 to handle both -h and --help:

case "-h", "--help":
    CLI.printUsage()

This is consistent with the help text shown in internal/config/help.go which mentions --help.

Fix 2: Generate Proper TOML Sections

File: internal/config/defaults.go

In the gen() function, replace line 64:

OLD (incorrect):

if dat, err = snek.Marshal(toml.Parser()); err != nil {

NEW (correct):

if dat, err = toml.Parser().Marshal(defOpts); err != nil {

Why this works:

• defOpts is already structured as nested map[string]map[string]interface{}
• TOML parser's Marshal() method converts nested maps to TOML sections
• We don't need koanf's flattened structure for generating defaults
• koanf (snek) is still used for loading and accessing config at runtime

---

Benefits

1. ✅ --help now works - Consistent with documented behavior
2. ✅ Cleaner TOML output - Proper sections instead of quoted keys
3. ✅ More readable configs - Easier for users to edit
4. ✅ Simpler code - Direct marshaling, no flatten/unflatten cycle
5. ✅ Standards compliant - Follows TOML best practices

---

Testing

After changes:

# Test help flag
./HellPot --help    # Should show help and exit
./HellPot -h        # Should also show help and exit

# Test config generation
./HellPot -g        # Should generate config.toml
cat config.toml     # Should show proper [sections]

# Verify config still loads
./HellPot           # Should start normally with generated config

---

Impact

• ✅ Low risk - Only affects CLI argument parsing and config generation
• ✅ No runtime changes - Config loading/reading unchanged
• ✅ Backwards compatible - Existing config files still work
• ✅ User-facing improvement - Better UX for help and config generation

This pull request was created from Copilot chat.

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