darktable-org / darktable-org/darktable
Make darktable executables handle --help option consistently
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- Dominant language
- C
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Description
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
This is a minor irritation.
There are a number of darktable executables, and they don't all handle --version and --help the same way. For instance I have
- darktable - both options behave well
- darktable-chart:
--helpis doesn't say what the executable actually does, just what the options are,--versioncomplains there is no such file - darktable-cli - both options behave well
- darktable-cltest - both options behave well
- darktable-cmstest - options appear to be ignored (same output with or without any options)
- darktable-generate-cache - both options behave well
- darktable-mcp - options are ignored and executable sits waiting for input (at least, that is what I guess it is doing)
- darktable-rs-identify - both options result in an error about not finding the file
Describe the solution you'd like
Consistent handling of --help and --version.
Alternatives
Additional context
Contributor guide
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 by running each listed executable with --help and --version, comparing the current output and behavior, especially darktable-chart, darktable-cmstest, darktable-mcp, and darktable-rs-identify. Trace the executable entry points for these tools and make their option handling consistent with the working examples; done means both options produce appropriate output without treating them as input files or waiting for input.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100