[Pulp-list] flags vs. bool options

[Jay Dobies]

On 05/22/2012 09:55 AM, Jeff Ortel wrote:
> I've noticed that in some of our extensions, we are defining parameters
> as boolean options instead of using flags. It seems more intuitive to
> have a CLI users and much more in line with most other Linux commands to
> specify (for example):
>
> --ssl-verify
>
> instead of:
>
> --ssl-verify=true
>
> and requires far less handling/conversion/validation in our code.

The problem comes in setting that option to false in an update call. 
You'd need a separate argument for --disable-ssl-verify on the update, 
which is cumbersome.

There's also a difference between False and "default". Using the flag 
model, there's no way to later use an update call to indicate it's been 
removed entirely from the configuration. That'd require a third flag, 
--remove-ssl-verify

Using this approach, we have three possibilities in a single option:

--ssl-verify=true  # set the config value to true
--ssl-verify=false # set the config value to false
--ssl-verify=""    # remove entirely from the config and use default

Using this across the board is more consistent when you get to things 
like files. Setting a CA certificate with --ca-cert=<filename> and then 
later removing it with --ca-cert="" is the same concept for removing as 
it is for the booleans.

-- 
Jay Dobies
Freenode: jdob @ #pulp
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