[m-rev.] for post-commit review: fix mantis bug 361

[Peter Wang]

On Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:26:23 +1000 (EST), Julien Fischer <jfischer at opturion.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 18 Sep 2014, Peter Wang wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 18 Sep 2014 03:27:31 +1000 (EST), Julien Fischer <jfischer at opturion.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Wed, 17 Sep 2014, Zoltan Somogyi wrote:
> >>
> >>>> For example:
> >>>>
> >>>>     --add-grade-component-debug
> >>>>     --add-grade-component-decldebug
> >>>>     --add-grade-component-parallelism
> >>>>     etc
> >>>
> >>> I think the name of the grade component should be accepted
> >>> both when spelled out in full (e.g. parallelism) and when abbreviated
> >>> (e.g. par).
> >>
> >> Also fine by me.
> >
> > How about --grade-component <option> where <option> is just a component
> > of the full grade string?
> 
> I like having the word "add" there as well since it conveys the sense
> that these options are cumulative.  The reason I chose individual
> options is to restrict which grade components can be specifed this way.
> It seems a bit pointless to allow for example "--grade-component java"
> when that's already controlled by "--target java", although I guess
> I have no strong objections to allowing the former as a synonym for
> the latter.

My suggestion was mostly about eliminating the different option and
grade component names.  The documentation tends to say, "to use feature
Foo pass --foobar".  Users who pass a full grade string need to look
elsewhere to find that `--foobar' actually corresponds to grade
component `.foo'.  "foobar" and "foo" are not always the same.

*Assuming* there is no value in the `--foobar'-style options, we can
eliminate them and not reintroduce them with a new prefix.  The
documentation would then say "to use feature Foo you must build in a
grade with component `.foo'" and readers can know immediately that it
means to pass `--grade <something>.foo' or `--add-grade-component foo'.

With individual `--add-grade-component-foobar' options (plus synonyms),
you would need to explain again that this option corresponds to that
grade component.  Also, every synonym needs to be duplicated in a number
of places.

Peter