[2676] in Kerberos_V5_Development
kdb5_util argument parsing....
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ezra Peisach)
Tue Oct 28 11:20:13 1997
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 11:19:25 -0500
From: Ezra Peisach <epeisach@MIT.EDU>
To: krbdev@MIT.EDU
Background:
kdb5_util has an interesting method or parsing arguments. For a given
command line argument, first a check is made to see if this is a
global option, like "-r realm". If so it is acted upon. If not, the
argument is checked for a command name - like "create" and is stored
away if so. Otherwise the option is stashed away for passing down to
the subprogram that does the work.
The problem:
If one of the global options is the same as a subprograms, the
subprogram never receives the option. The particular example is
kdb5_util destroy -f
or
krb5_util stash -f /tmp/a
Now, -f is un undocumented option that sets the stash file name and is
handled before being passed to the stash or destroy functions. In the
former case, one gets an error about a missing filename - or worse
still the next command line element is treated as the stash file name.
Solution:
a) Rewrite the command parsing so that there will be no mistakes. All
global command options must come before the command.
I.e.
kdb5_util -r KANGAROO.MIT.EDU create -s
must be used instead of
kdb5_util create -s -r KANGAROO.MIT.EDU
b) Change the conflicting option. I.e. change "-f stashfile" to "-sf
stashfile"
I like (b) because it is easier to code and should (hopefull) not
cause anyone to lose as the option was undocumented to start with...
What do people think?
Ezra
