Adjust help messages in all cases to UX indications
Metadata
Current evaluation
Merged changes adding a dedicated help command, disabling automatic ArgumentParser help handling, and improving usage and error messages. Tests moved to test_help.py. Approved by two reviewers with 382 additions and 175 deletions across three files.
Suggested action: —
No scores available.
Issue body
Integrated the rest of the help functionality.
Specifically:
- have a (special) "help" command to provide general, detailed, and per command help
- stop ArgumentParser to automatic handling help texts, as we're doing that now
- hack ArgumentParser to provide better usage and general messages on error
- generate the structures from Argparse internals to build help texts correctly
These "internal hacking" details will be heavily refactored when we go to the "lazy module import and manually support global options" model, in the short future.
Also note that I moved several tests to `test_help.py`, where I implemented them in a more "execution POV", to closer reproduce/test desired behaviour.
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b | — | — | Merged changes adding a dedicated help command, disabling automatic ArgumentParser help handling, and improving usage and error messages. Tests moved to test_help.py. Approved by two reviewers with 382 additions and 175 deletions across three files. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Merged. Integrated a dedicated help command, disabled automatic ArgumentParser help handling, and improved usage and error messages via Argparse internals. Tests were consolidated into test_help.py. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Merged. Integrated comprehensive help functionality, added a dedicated help command, and customized ArgumentParser error and usage messages. Disabled automatic text handling and consolidated tests into test_help.py. Internal parser modifications are slated for future refactoring. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #154 Improved short help messages. | charmcraft | merged | Merged improvements to short help messages for commands and parameters, updating output per UX suggestions. Approved by two reviewers, passed CI, and modified eight files as part of a broader help overhaul. | |
| #163 Two small details before integrating help messages to main. | charmcraft | merged | Merged after two approvals. Added an argsparsing option to CommandError for immediate help display and a helper to check command arguments. Modified four files with minor adjustments to prepare for a larger message refactoring. | |
| #5178 fix: properly present help when posargs have no help | snapcraft | merged | Merged fix for help display when positional arguments lack descriptions. Approved by two reviewers, passed CI, and applied with minimal changes across four files. |