[Xfce-i18n] Xfce-power-manager: Is this an error?

[Brian J. Tarricone]

Christian Dywan wrote:
> Am Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:10:35 -0800
> schrieb "Brian J. Tarricone" <kelnos at xfce.org>:
> 
>> Christian Dywan wrote:
>>> Am Mon, 3 Nov 2008 23:30:02 -0800
>>> schrieb "Brian J. Tarricone" <kelnos at xfce.org>:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:32:05 +0200 Besnik Bleta wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> Could anybody confirm that the following is correct:
>>>>>
>>>>> \n
>>>>> Usage: xfce-power-manager [options] \n
>>>>> \n
>>>>> Options:\n
>>>>> -h, --help       Print this help message and exit\n
>>>>> -v, --version    Print this help message and exit\n
>>>>> -r, --run        Start xfce power manager\n
>>>>> -c, --customize  Show Configuration dialog\n
>>>>> -q, --quit       Quit any running xfce power manager\n
>>>>> \n
>>>>>
>>>>> or -h and -v options are doubling each other?
>>>> Yeah that's probably wrong...  Also, Ali, the standard short option
>>>> for --version is -V, not -v.  You'd use -v for 'verbose'.
>>> That is not true. -v can mean --verbose but it does actually mean
>>> --version in lots of applications, including famous ones like Thunar
>>> and Terminal.
>> Then Thunar and Terminal should be fixed.  Look at any GNU app and 
>> you'll see that -V is the standard for version, -v for verbose.
> 
> That is still but a whishful thought. -v is --version in lots of other
> applications, and no less standard than the alternative.

Actually, that's not true.  I just grepped through the man pages on my 
system, and I came up with 49 clear cases of -V as version, and only 9 
of -v as version.  I was a bit overly restrictive in my regex, so I'm 
sure I miss a bunch on both sides of the issue, but the law of averages 
seems to suggest the proportion here isn't completely off.

> Compare to the usage of --help, -? and -h. You will have even less luck
> with suggesting that any of those is 'standard'

Not relevant.  We're talking about two short options that can mean two 
different things (-V and -v, version and verbose).  --help is always 
help.  -? is always help.  -h is almost always help.  There's no 
confusion here, aside from apps that just don't accept one or the other. 
Notable exceptions are -h in 'df', 'du', 'ls', etc.  But I've never seen 
an app use --help or -? for anything other than help.

Relevant point: I'm making an executive decision: Xfce core apps shall 
use -V to mean --version, and -v to mean --verbose.  Obviously goodies 
can do what they want, but I'd urge them to follow this convention as well.

	-brian