default level -P seems to be broken: Invalid arguments: option -P requires argument! (Debian #1024612)

[teward]

Forwarded from Debian Bug #1024612 - https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1024612

Package: pastebinit
Version: 1.6.2-1
Severity: normal

The pastebinit -P option seems to now require an argument even though
the option didn't require one before and the docs mention a default.

This seems to be a regression from the version in Debian bullseye.

More details of the error and documentation:

$ pastebinit -P |& grep -- -P
Invalid arguments: option -P requires argument!
-P (default is '1')

$ man pastebinit | grep -- -P
-P [private level] (default: 1)

$ pastebinit -P
Invalid arguments: option -P requires argument!

pastebinit v1.6.2

Reads on stdin for input or takes a list of files as parameters

Usage: pastebinit [OPTION...] [FILE...]

General arguments:

  -b <pastebin> (default is 'paste.debian.net')
  -i <input file>
  -l List all supported pastebins
  -E Print the content to stdout too
  -h Print this help screen
  -v Print the version number
  -V Print verbose output to stderr

Optional arguments (not supported by all pastebins):

  -a <author> (default is 'pabs')
  -t <title of paste> (default is none)
  -f <format of paste> (default is 'text')
  -j <jabberid> (default is '')
  -m <permatag> (default is none)
  -P <private level> (default is '1')
  -u <username> -p <password>

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bookworm/sid
APT prefers testing-debug
APT policy: (900, 'testing-debug'), (900, 'testing'), (800, 'unstable-debug'), (800, 'unstable'), (790, 'buildd-unstable'), (700, 'experimental-debug'), (700, 'experimental'), (690, 'buildd-experimental')
merged-usr: no
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.0.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_AU.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages pastebinit depends on:
ii python3 3.10.6-1
ii python3-distro 1.8.0-1

pastebinit recommends no packages.

pastebinit suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information

[krytarik]

The pastebinit -P option seems to now require an argument even though the option didn't require one before...

Yes, because 1.) this allows one to both enable and disable private pasting via command-line option which wasn't possible before, and 2.) there are pastebins that offer multiple levels on private pastes.

...and the docs mention a default.

Yes, like there are defaults on other options that require an argument when specified on the command line. So in this case, if you just want to make a private paste (and the bin only got one level of privacy), since the default is indeed 1 now whereas before private pasting was disabled by default, you'd not need to pass the option at all.