Re: Is there interest in GOption support?

[Sergei Steshenko <sergstesh yahoo com>]

--- On Sun, 11/16/08, Torsten Schoenfeld <kaffeetisch gmx de> wrote:

> From: Torsten Schoenfeld <kaffeetisch gmx de>
> Subject: Is there interest in GOption support?
> To: gtk-perl-list gnome org
> Date: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 3:50 AM
> Aloha,
>
> I've finally completed a patch that adds GOption
> support to Glib.  It allows you to this (from the SYNOPSIS):
>
>          my ($verbose, $source, $filenames) = ('',
> undef, []);
>
>          my $entries = [
>            { long_name => 'verbose',
>              short_name => 'v',
>              arg_type => 'none',
>              arg_value => \$verbose,
>              description => 'be verbose' },
>
>            { long_name => 'source',
>              short_name => 's',
>              arg_type => 'string',
>              arg_value => \$source,
>              description => 'set the source',
>              arg_description => 'source' },
>
>            [ 'filenames', 'f',
> 'filename-array', \$filenames ],
>          ];
>
>          my $context = Glib::OptionContext->new ('-
> urgsify your life');
>          $context->add_main_entries ($entries);
>          $context->parse ();
>
>          # $verbose, $source, and $filenames are now
> updated according to the
>          # command line options given
>
> If you call this program with --help, you will
> automatically get this:
>
>          Usage:
>            test.pl [OPTION...] - urgsify your life
>
>          Help Options:
>            -?, --help              Show help options
>
>          Application Options:
>            -v, --verbose           be verbose
>            -s, --source=source     set the source
>            -f, --filenames
>
> You can also add gtk+'s options:
>
>          $context->add_group (Gtk2->get_option_group
> (TRUE));
>
> Now --help will also print this:
>
>            --help-all               Show all help options
>            --help-gtk               Show GTK+ Options
>
> And --help-all and --help-gtk will do just what it says
> there.
>
> The question now is: would you use this instead of any of
> the dozens of options parsers Perl already has?  The patch
> adds quite a bit of code to Glib which we don't want to
> commit without there being demand for the feature.
>
> (The performance impact of the patch seems to be
> negligible: any slowdown of 'use Glib' I could
> measure was within the error bounds.)
> _______________________________________________

My friend and I once (more than 10 year ago) developed very similar
approach/interface.

So, I'm in favor of inclusion.

Thanks,
  Sergei.