krunkit --help inconsistent options indentation

[nirs]

The options are in indented inconsistency. This is a minor detail but it does not give a good feel about the program.

Current output:

Options:
      --cpus <CPUS>
          Number of vCPUs for the VM
      --memory <MEMORY>
          Amount of RAM available to VM
      --bootloader <BOOTLOADER>
          Bootloader configuration
      --device <DEVICES>
          virtio devices to configure in the VM
      --restful-uri <RESTFUL_URI>
          URI of the status/shutdown listener
      --gui
          GUI option for compatibility with vfkit (ignored)
      --oem-string <OEM_STRINGS>
          SMBIOS OEM String
      --krun-log-level <KRUN_LOG_LEVEL>
          Log level for libkrun (0=off, 1=error, 2=warn, 3=info, 4=debug, 5 or higher=trace) [default: 0]
  -h, --help
          Print help
  -V, --version
          Print version

Desired indentation:

Options:
  --cpus <CPUS>
          Number of vCPUs for the VM
  --memory <MEMORY>
          Amount of RAM available to VM
  --bootloader <BOOTLOADER>
          Bootloader configuration
  --device <DEVICES>
          virtio devices to configure in the VM
  --restful-uri <RESTFUL_URI>
          URI of the status/shutdown listener
  --gui
          GUI option for compatibility with vfkit (ignored)
  --oem-string <OEM_STRINGS>
          SMBIOS OEM String
  --krun-log-level <KRUN_LOG_LEVEL>
          Log level for libkrun (0=off, 1=error, 2=warn, 3=info, 4=debug, 5 or higher=trace) [default: 0]
  -h, --help
          Print help
  -V, --version
          Print version

[jakecorrenti]

The clap crate we use for parsing the command line automatically generates the output for --help, so it's not necessarily an inconsistency within our tool.

FWIW, other Rust tools use this format such as cargo:

❯ cargo --help
Rust's package manager

Usage: cargo [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]
       cargo [OPTIONS] -Zscript <MANIFEST_RS> [ARGS]...

Options:
  -V, --version                  Print version info and exit
      --list                     List installed commands
      --explain <CODE>           Provide a detailed explanation of a rustc error message
  -v, --verbose...               Use verbose output (-vv very verbose/build.rs output)
  -q, --quiet                    Do not print cargo log messages
      --color <WHEN>             Coloring: auto, always, never
  -C <DIRECTORY>                 Change to DIRECTORY before doing anything (nightly-only)
      --locked                   Assert that `Cargo.lock` will remain unchanged
      --offline                  Run without accessing the network
      --frozen                   Equivalent to specifying both --locked and --offline
      --config <KEY=VALUE|PATH>  Override a configuration value
  -Z <FLAG>                      Unstable (nightly-only) flags to Cargo, see 'cargo -Z help' for details
  -h, --help                     Print help

[nirs]

In the cargo example all the flags are indented in the same way, in krukit all flags except --help and --version are indented by 4 spaces, and --help and --version by 2 spaces.

Maybe krunkit add unneeded 2 spaces to the flag names, and then the help formatted indent everything by 2 spaces?

[jakecorrenti]

I don't think I understand where the difference is. The output of --help is column aligned such that the very left is the short hand for the option. If there's no short hand for the option then that "column" is left blank. Then the next "column" will contain the long version of the option

[nirs]

The output of --help is column aligned such that the very left is the short hand for the option. If there's no short hand for the option then that "column" is left blank. Then the next "column" will contain the long version of the option

I see, so this is expected. Go uses the same style. So I guess is unfortunate that we don't have shorthand for any option, even the required options.

If we add short options for the required options it will improve the visual issue:

Options:
  -c  --cpus <CPUS>
          Number of vCPUs for the VM
  -m  --memory <MEMORY>
          Amount of RAM available to VM
      --bootloader <BOOTLOADER>
          Bootloader configuration
      --device <DEVICES>
          virtio devices to configure in the VM
      --restful-uri <RESTFUL_URI>
          URI of the status/shutdown listener
      --gui
          GUI option for compatibility with vfkit (ignored)
      --oem-string <OEM_STRINGS>
          SMBIOS OEM String
      --krun-log-level <KRUN_LOG_LEVEL>
          Log level for libkrun (0=off, 1=error, 2=warn, 3=info, 4=debug, 5 or higher=trace) [default: 0]
  -h, --help
          Print help
  -V, --version
          Print version

This is little better but still does not look right.

Python always align options to the left:

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         be more verbose
  --name-prefix PREFIX  prefix profile names
  --skip-tests          Do not run addons 'test' hooks
  --skip-addons         Do not run addons 'start' hooks
  --max-workers N       maximum number of workers per profile
  --timeout TIMEOUT     time in seconds to wait until clsuter is started

Same for common tools such as kubectl:

Options:
    -A, --all-namespaces=false:
	If present, list the requested object(s) across all namespaces. Namespace in current context is ignored even
	if specified with --namespace.

    --allow-missing-template-keys=true:
	If true, ignore any errors in templates when a field or map key is missing in the template. Only applies to
	golang and jsonpath output formats.

    --chunk-size=500:
	Return large lists in chunks rather than all at once. Pass 0 to disable. This flag is beta and may change in
	the future.

I guess we can close this and move the discussion to the crate generating the help.

[tylerfanelli]

Well, AFAIU my PR didn't exactly solve the problem at hand. But it seems the issue is for clap, not krunkit. @nirs Am I correct? Is it ok to close ths?

[nirs]

Well, AFAIU my PR didn't exactly solve the problem at hand. But it seems the issue is for clap, not krunkit. @nirs Am I correct? Is it ok to close ths?

I agree, the right place to discuss this is clap.

[jakecorrenti]

Well, AFAIU my PR didn't exactly solve the problem at hand.

Sorry, I didn't mean to close this as "completed"