doc: replace -? with -h and -help #31118

1. 
   l0rinc commented at 4:48 pm on October 19, 2024: contributor

   The question mark is interpreted as a wildcard for any single character in Zsh (see https://www.techrepublic.com/article/globbing-wildcard-characters-with-zsh), so bench_bitcoin -? will not show the help message on systems using Zsh, such as macOS.

   Since -h provides equivalent help functionality (as defined in https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/common/args.cpp#L684-L693), the benchmarking.md documentation has been updated to ensure compatibility with macOS.

   ---

   -?

   % cmake -B build -DBUILD_BENCH=ON && cmake –build build && build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -? zsh: no matches found: -?

   -h

   % cmake -B build -DBUILD_BENCH=ON && cmake –build build && build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -h Usage: bench_bitcoin [options] Options: …

   ---

   Based on the comments the args help default was also changed to -help, mentioning -h and -? (instead of -? being the default)

2. doc: replace `-?` with `-h` for bench_bitcoin help

   The question mark (`?`) is interpreted as a wildcard for any single character in Zsh (see https://www.techrepublic.com/article/globbing-wildcard-characters-with-zsh), so `bench_bitcoin -?` will not work on systems using Zsh, such as macOS.
   
   Since `-h` provides equivalent help functionality (as defined in https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/common/args.cpp#L684-L693), the `benchmarking.md` documentation has been updated to ensure compatibility with macOS.
   \

   f0130ab1a1
3. 
   DrahtBot commented at 4:48 pm on October 19, 2024: contributor

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4. DrahtBot added the label Docs on Oct 19, 2024
5. laanwj approved
6. 
   laanwj commented at 7:44 am on October 20, 2024: member

   ACK f0130ab1a1e65583637b6a362b879ea3253e7bb7 Easier to remember too, -? is a kind of mingling between Windows/DOS /? and UNIX -h conventions.
7. rkrux approved
8. 
   rkrux commented at 7:54 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

   tACK https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/f0130ab1a1e65583637b6a362b879ea3253e7bb7

   I compiled bench_bitcoin, and ran the help command on Mac OS. -h works, -? doesn’t.

   Wondering why is -h a hidden argument. Do you think it’s worth making it non-hidden with its own message just like -?? https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/common/args.cpp#L692

9. 
   laanwj commented at 8:21 am on October 21, 2024: member

   Wondering why is -h a hidden argument. Do you think it’s worth making it non-hidden with its own message just like -??

   There’s no reason to list both seperately. That would clutter the list. -? is the weird duck out in that it lists the short-name option as primary instead of the long one (-help). Might add the alternatives to the help message say,

   0  -help
   1       Print this help message and exit (also -h or -?)
   

10. BrandonOdiwuor approved
11. 
    BrandonOdiwuor commented at 8:38 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

    ACK f0130ab1a1e65583637b6a362b879ea3253e7bb7, great catch
12. 
    rkrux commented at 8:51 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

    Wondering why is -h a hidden argument. Do you think it’s worth making it non-hidden with its own message just like -??

    There’s no reason to list both seperately. That would clutter the list. -? is the weird duck out in that it lists the short-name option as primary instead of the long one (-help). Might add the alternatives to the help message say,

    0  -help
    1       Print this help message and exit (also -h or -?)
    

    @laanwj Yes, this^ seems better.

13. 
    l0rinc commented at 9:04 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

    I’ve pushed the default change in a separate commit, let me know if this is what you had in mind:

    0% build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -h
    1[...]
    2  -help
    3       Print this help message and exit (also -h or -?)
    

    edit: changed the title of the PR after this change

14. Change default help arg to `-help` and mention `-h` and `-?` as alternatives

    % build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -h
    [...]
      -help
           Print this help message and exit (also -h or -?)

    33a28e252a
15. l0rinc force-pushed on Oct 21, 2024
16. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Oct 21, 2024
17. 
    DrahtBot commented at 9:09 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

    🚧 At least one of the CI tasks failed. Debug: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/runs/31815057000

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18. rkrux approved
19. 
    rkrux commented at 10:23 am on October 21, 2024: contributor

    tACK https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe

    Thanks @l0rinc for addressing the change quickly. Rebuilt and checked for bitcoin-cli as well, it’s updated there too.

     0➜  bitcoin git:(l0rinc/bench-help) ✗ bitcoincli -h
     1Bitcoin Core RPC client version v28.99.0-33a28e252a73
     2
     3Usage:  bitcoin-cli [options] <command> [params]  Send command to Bitcoin Core
     4or:     bitcoin-cli [options] -named <command> [name=value]...  Send command to Bitcoin Core (with named arguments)
     5or:     bitcoin-cli [options] help                List commands
     6or:     bitcoin-cli [options] help <command>      Get help for a command
     7
     8Options:
     9
    10  -color=<when>
    11       Color setting for CLI output (default: auto). Valid values: always, auto
    12       (add color codes when standard output is connected to a terminal
    13       and OS is not WIN32), never.
    14
    15  -conf=<file>
    16       Specify configuration file. Relative paths will be prefixed by datadir
    17       location. (default: bitcoin.conf)
    18
    19  -datadir=<dir>
    20       Specify data directory
    21
    22  -help
    23       Print this help message and exit (also -h or -?)
    

20. DrahtBot requested review from BrandonOdiwuor on Oct 21, 2024
21. DrahtBot requested review from laanwj on Oct 21, 2024
22. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Oct 21, 2024
23. laanwj approved
24. 
    laanwj commented at 11:20 am on October 21, 2024: member

    Code review ACK 33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe
25. l0rinc renamed this:
    doc: replace `-?` with `-h` for bench_bitcoin help
    doc: replace `-?` with `-h` and `-help`
    on Oct 21, 2024
26. 
    hebasto commented at 1:54 pm on October 21, 2024: member

    Concept ACK.
27. 
    edilmedeiros commented at 6:15 pm on October 23, 2024: contributor

    Concept ACK
28. 
    edilmedeiros commented at 6:40 pm on October 23, 2024: contributor

    tACK 33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe

    I would prefer everything in a single commit, but it’s OK.

29. DrahtBot requested review from hebasto on Oct 23, 2024
30. in doc/benchmarking.md:43 in 33a28e252a

    39@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ The output will look similar to:
    40 Help
    41 ---------------------
    42 
    43-    build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -?
    44+    build/src/bench/bench_bitcoin -h
    

    ---

    ---

    

    fanquake commented at 8:33 am on October 24, 2024:

    Maybe this will be the last time we rewrite this. Introduced as -?: b21244e0be5727f8c4e8c5de0a9aa2c597ae8ed2 Changed to --help: 05fdb97df46d0a0675b93e9791bd5d498e5e5117 Changed back to -?: d8513fe41102dcbfc05235f3b95e33eb1878f880 Now we are going back to -h: f0130ab1a1e65583637b6a362b879ea3253e7bb7.

    ---

    

    l0rinc commented at 8:42 am on October 24, 2024:

    I’m fine with --help as well, but -? just isn’t working on a mac
31. 
    maflcko commented at 8:18 pm on October 24, 2024: member

    lgtm ACK 33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe
32. 
    achow101 commented at 9:59 pm on October 24, 2024: member

    ACK 33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe
33. achow101 merged this on Oct 24, 2024
34. achow101 closed this on Oct 24, 2024

    ---

35. l0rinc deleted the branch on Oct 24, 2024
36. 
    hebasto commented at 7:31 am on October 25, 2024: member

    Post-merge ACK 33a28e252a7349c0aa284005aee97873b965fcfe.
37. TheCharlatan referenced this in commit a73b2bd0f0 on Nov 14, 2024
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43. glozow referenced this in commit 80c5d57bd1 on Mar 13, 2025
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Contributors
l0rinc DrahtBot laanwj rkrux BrandonOdiwuor hebasto edilmedeiros fanquake maflcko achow101

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