[darcs-users] short options and long names (VOTE!)

[Kevin Smith]

Kenneth Knowles wrote:
> In case anyone votes to remove any of these, I'll pre-emptively counter-vote
> that these are really good short options.

 >>  -m PATCHNAME  --patch-name=PATCHNAME  name of patch

I agree with the others that you listed, but this one struck me as odd 
when I saw it in the list. "m" is literally just about the last letter 
in "patch-name". Ah, I see that there is --match, which appears to be an 
alias for --patch-name. It looks like --match might be older and 
--patch-name is newer?

Either -m should be listed as a shortcut for --match (instead of for 
--patch-name), or it should be changed to -p or -n. Since it matches a 
_p_atch name _p_attern, -p seems like the better choice. Assuming --pipe 
and --partial don't need short options, -p is available.

For consistency, diff should support --unified as well as -u. Having a 
short option without a corresponding long version disturbs my sense of 
balance and fair play.

By the way, I agree that any options that are not used frequently do not 
deserve short versions.

Kevin