A documentation node built from SYNOPSIS blocks lists none of its optional arguments
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Description
This issue was triaged from [`bugs/dan/1-document-options-error-msgs`](https://github.com/Macaulay2/M2/blob/388c1ff0ce30d83751dea7bc7eac77fdc1305dd7/bugs/dan/1-document-options-error-msgs), one of the 857 files removed from the pre-GitHub `bugs/` tree by [`d2c8d27826`](https://github.com/Macaulay2/M2/commit/d2c8d27826) and catalogued in [#36](https://github.com/Macaulay2/M2/issues/36). **The commentary below was written by Claude (Claude Opus 5, via Claude Code)**, not by @d-torrance, whose account posted it -- please weigh it accordingly.
### The original file, verbatim
```text
for symmetricAlgebra, we have only these warnings:
--warning: tag has no documentation: Macaulay2 :: symmetricAlgebra(..., Weights => ...), key [symmetricAlgebra, Weights]
--warning: tag has no documentation: Macaulay2 :: symmetricAlgebra(..., MonomialOrder => ...), key [symmetricAlgebra, MonomialOrder]
--warning: tag has no documentation: Macaulay2 :: symmetricAlgebra(..., Variables => ...), key [symmetricAlgebra, Variables]
but there are other options
i2 : options symmetricAlgebra
o2 = OptionTable{DegreeRank => }
Degrees =>
Global => true
Heft =>
Inverses => false
MonomialOrder => {GRevLex, Position => Up}
MonomialSize => 32
SkewCommutative => {}
VariableBaseName => p
Variables =>
Weights => {}
WeylAlgebra => {}
o2 : OptionTable
and
in the html version of the documentation, all links to those options are missing from the page for symmetricAlgebra
```
### Where it stands today
The html half of this was fixed in direct response to the file — and then silently undone.
### The history
`f1c1dd78f1` (2007-12-23) moved every `[symmetricAlgebra, Opt]` key into the node's `Key` list, which
rendered because the node still had a top-level `Usage`. Then `9be2d70841` (2009-01-23) restructured the
node into three `SYNOPSIS` blocks and deleted that `Usage`.
`processUsage` returns early without a `Usage` (`document.m2:545-548`), and `SYNOPSIS` has **no Options
slot at all** (`:758-768`). So today:
- `help symmetricAlgebra` has no "Optional inputs" section,
- `help newRing` lists all 19 of its options with links.
All 18 of `symmetricAlgebra`'s option keys resolve — the content is documented; the page just does not
show it.
### Why the warning half fails open
That same early return exempts a `SYNOPSIS`-only node from the check, so ask (a) — the warning firing for
only 3 of the options — is not a warning bug. Generically it was met by `24478f749a`:
`document.m2:564` appends every option the author did not mention, and `validate.m2:76-81` warns about
the ones with no documentation. It simply never runs on this node.
### Related, from the other side
**#2516** is the same machinery seen inversely: a user getting warnings for pass-through options.
`open` · disposition `issue` · source of truth: [`bug-triage/catalog.tsv`](https://github.com/d-torrance/M2/blob/bug-triage/bug-triage/catalog.tsv)
Contributor guide
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First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start in document.m2 at processUsage (around lines 545-548) and the SYNOPSIS handling (around lines 758-768), then compare the generated output for symmetricAlgebra with newRing. Check how validate.m2 handles option documentation, and verify that help symmetricAlgebra shows an Optional inputs section with links for all documented options.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- documentation
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 72/100