Re: -V, --version -- deprecated?

Neil Conway wrote:
> The "--help" output for most of the binaries we install does not
> include the "-V" option (just its alias, --version). Is this
> intentional?
>
> (Note that we still document this option in the reference pages for
> some commands, and initdb's help output does include "-V".)

--help and --version are the standard options that are supported
everywhere. In the era before we had long options everywhere, we
implemented -V as an alternative in some programs, in particular those
in and around initdb, because of the version cross-checking it does
using those options.

At one point, long options where broken on some BSD versions. I don't
know what became of that, but if we don't have new information it might
be safest to leave things where they are.

Hence, the -V option is not the preferred public interface, so it's not
prominently documented, which may or may not be reasonable in minds
other than my own.

> Speaking of command-line options, "--version" and "--help" aren't
> documented in a lot of command reference pages. Is there a good
> reason why?

I am not aware of one.

--
Peter Eisentraut
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/