Re:Tell HN: Please don't print –help to stderr in your CLI t...
by dingosity on Thursday September 28, 2023 @02:00PM
(#37693261)
If the next command in the pipe wants to do something with non-normal output of a command, then yes, it should do something with that. And the command can redirect stderr to stdout with the use of `2>&1`.
Yes. You're unlikely to like my software. I don't recommend you use it.
"Exceptional event" is not a useful or well defined concept. A better concept is "error" or "unexpected result".
Asking for help is a request for information. The normal, non-error, expected result is that a bunch of text will show up on the output. It is entirely reasonable that the "next command in the pipe" might want to do something with that expected output.
I shouldn't have to guess whether or not you think the output I specifically requested is "exceptional", so it's entirely reasonable to expect that programs in general consistently put user-requested help on stdout.
You are of course free to write your software any way you want. And I'm free to think it's stupid, and to not use your software.