improve command-line options output #3619

• 3 new categories
  • Connection options
  • Testing options
  • RPC server options
• rename "SSL options" to "RPC SSL options"
• append "on startup" to
  • checklevel
  • loadblock
  • reindex
  • rescan
  • salvagewallet
  • upgradewallet
• Fix rpcuser and rpcpassword appeared twice for bitcoind in rpcclient.cpp

Perhaps this is also a good time to sort them alphabetically for each category? At least when options don't belong together directly...

update:

• rename "Testing" to "Debugging/Testing"
• sort alphabetically
• append "on startup" in separate string
• add default values to -dns and -wallet
• Description of -checklevel now is "How thorough the block verification of -checkblocks is (0-4, default: 3)" before it was "How thorough the block verification is (0-4, default: 3)"

Seems like the following Debugging/Testing options are undocumented: -benchmark -dblogsize -disablesafemode -testsafemode -dropmessagestest -fuzzmessagestest -flushwallet -genproclimit -limitfreerelay -maxsigcachesize -mintxfee -minrelayfee -rootcertificates -printblock -printblocktree -privdb

Does it make sense to include them all in the --help output? I thought maybe hide those expert-only Debugging/Testing by default, and then make a --helpdebug to show all the Debugging/Testing options?

Also -checkpoints and -regtest would fall into this category.

Most of those are not documented in the --help output on purpose. Accidental use of some of those options can result in performance issues or even getting banned by other nodes.

Adding a special --help-debug would be a possibility.

Though these should probably be documented in the normal options:

-mintxfee
-minrelaytxfee (minrelayfee doesn't exist)
-genproclimit (part of internal miner)
-rootcertificates (GUI only)

update:

added to GUI: -rootcertificates=<file> Set SSL root certificates for payment request (default: -system-)

and to Debugging/Testing: -benchmark Show benchmark information (default: 0) -dblogsize=<n> Flush database activity from memory pool to disk log every <n> megabytes (default: 100) -disablesafemode Disable safemode, override a real safe mode event (default: 0) -testsafemode Force safe mode (default: 0) -dropmessagestest=<n> Randomly drop 1 of every <n> network messages -fuzzmessagestest=<n> Randomly fuzz 1 of every <n> network messages -flushwallet Run a thread to flush wallet periodically (default: 1) -genproclimit=<n> Set the processor limit for when generation is on (-1 = unlimited, default: -1) -help-debug Show all debugging options (usage: --help -help-debug) -limitfreerelay=<n> Continuously rate-limit free transactions to <n>*1000 bytes per minute (default:15) -maxsigcachesize=<n> Limit size of signature cache to <n> entries (default: 50000) -mintxfee=<amt> Fees smaller than this are considered zero fee (for transaction creation) (default: CTransaction::nMinTxFee) -minrelaytxfee=<amt> Fees smaller than this are considered zero fee (for relaying) (default: CTransaction::nMinRelayTxFee) -printblock=<hash> Print block on startup, if found in block index -printblocktree Print block tree on startup (default: 0) -privdb Sets the DB_PRIVATE flag in the wallet db environment (default: 1)

So Debugging/Testing section for "--help" now looks like this

and for "--help -help-debug"

BTW the reason for rpcuser and rpcpass to appear twice in bitcoind output was because they have effect on both the RPC server and RPC client. Also listing them under the client options makes it clear that they can be used there as well. Not that I insist on that, listing them only once is fine with me and saves some space.

So I fixed a bug that is supposed to be a feature.

Needs rebase

rebased. I went through the history of init.cpp, to make sure I did not miss anything.

Automatic sanity-testing: PASSED, see http://jenkins.bluematt.me/pull-tester/7398f4a796522f896ccc65b2e9adb109e9346020 for binaries and test log. This test script verifies pulls every time they are updated. It, however, dies sometimes and fails to test properly. If you are waiting on a test, please check timestamps to verify that the test.log is moving at http://jenkins.bluematt.me/pull-tester/current/ Contact BlueMatt on freenode if something looks broken.