MiniZinc 2.2.3: Issues with command-line interface

[informarte]

I noticed some issues with the command line of minizinc 2.2.3:

• The parameter to the -p option is not passed on to the backend as is but as the corresponding binary value, i.e. -p 2 is turned into -p ^B, for example.

• There is no way to pass parameters to the backend.

• When using Gecode as backend to solve an optimization problem, intermediate solutions are not printed, only the optimal solution.

All these problems do not occur in the MiniZinc IDE.

[Dekker1]

Thank you for reporting your problems. The first issue was indeed a bug within the MiniZinc driver. I've pushed a fix to the development brach,

The current way of passing flags to a FlatZinc solver is to use the --fzn-flags MiniZinc flag. A string with options can follow this flag. For example: minizinc --solver gecode -p 4 -a --fzn-flags '-restart none' test.mzn

The last issue is expected behaviour of MiniZinc, you have to pass the -a flag to gecode to print intermediate solutions. (The IDE adds this option be default).

[informarte]

Thanks for fixing -p.

I looked for documentation of --fzn-flags. The MiniZinc handbook mentions its existence in the section on FindMUS subsolver options but does not document the option per se. minizinc --help does not list --fzn-flags either.

[guidotack]

The--fzn-flags option is not available for all solvers, that's why it isn't listed in the generic minizinc --help. You should find it in the options for a concrete solver, e.g. minizinc --help gecode.