POV-Ray 3.7 does not give sufficient information when there is an error on the
command line.  When I issue a line such as:

   povray 'spine.ini[Atlas superior]' rainbow.ini

I get back:

   Problem with option setting
   povray spine.ini[Atlas superior] rainbow.ini
   Failed to parse command-line option

Usually in such situations, I can stare at the screen for 5, 10 minutes until my
eyeballs bleed, and then I figure out what I overlooked or where my pinky finger
slipped.  But I shouldn't even have to do that.  And now, in the above case, I'm
stumped.  I just can't figure out what's wrong with the command line.

POV-Ray 3.6 always gave sufficient information; at a glance, I could spot the
error.  But in the above case, 3.6 ran successfully.  Something must have
changed in the front end between 3.6 and 3.7, but I can't tell what, especially
since a command line that was perfectly legal in 3.6 no longer works.

I've seen this issue raised before (and FS#41 was issued, but it was closed).
In two cases, the error was in the front end itself (FS#194 and FS#234), and it
was up to the users to figure out that they did nothing wrong.  I'll ask again:
can we please have our error messages back?

POV-Ray version: 3.7.RC6
Operating system: openSUSE Linux 12.1

__________________________________________________

The above case is from a set of scenes that I haven't worked with for several
years.  These are the relevant .ini files:

===== spine.ini ==================================

Version=3.6
+is!spine.pov
+L/home/ricky/Documents/POV-Ray/skeleton ;This isn't the problem,
                                         ;because it works in 3.6.
+w180 +h180

[Lateral/d]
+ospine-l +h540
declare=Yaw=90
declare=Lift=0.2
declare=Nudge=0.5

[Dorsal]
+ospine-d +h540
declare=Yaw=0
declare=Lift=0.2

[Lateral/v]
+ospine+l +h540
declare=Yaw=-90
declare=Lift=0.2
declare=Nudge=-0.5

[Oblique]
+ospine-o +h540
declare=Yaw=-135
declare=Lift=0.2
declare=Nudge=-0.3

[Ventral]
+ospine-v +h540
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Lift=0.2

[Atlas superior]
+ovc1-s +w210
declare=vStart=23
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-90.0
declare=Lift=-0.1
declare=Height=2.8

[Axis superior]
+ovc2-s
declare=vStart=22
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-90.0
declare=Lift=-0.3

[C3 superior]
+ovc3-s
declare=vStart=21
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-88.11
declare=Lift=-0.25
declare=Height=2.3

[C4 superior]
+ovc4-s
declare=vStart=20
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-84.75
declare=Lift=-0.3
declare=Height=2.4

[C5 superior]
+ovc5-s
declare=vStart=19
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-80.34
declare=Lift=-0.35
declare=Height=2.5

[C6 superior]
+ovc6-s
declare=vStart=18
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-75.30
declare=Lift=-0.4
declare=Height=2.6

[C7 superior]
+ovc7-s
declare=vStart=17
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-70.05
declare=Lift=-0.45

[T1 superior]
+ovt1-s
declare=vStart=16
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-65.01
declare=Lift=-0.4

[T2 superior]
+ovt2-s
declare=vStart=15
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-65.0
declare=Lift=-0.3

[T3 superior]
+ovt3-s
declare=vStart=14
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-70.7
declare=Lift=-0.15

[T4 superior]
+ovt4-s
declare=vStart=13
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-76.1
declare=Lift=0

[T5 superior]
+ovt5-s
declare=vStart=12
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-81.2
declare=Lift=0.05

[T6 superior]
+ovt6-s
declare=vStart=11
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-86.0
declare=Lift=0.10

[T7 superior]
+ovt7-s
declare=vStart=10
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-90.5
declare=Lift=0.07

[T8 superior]
+ovt8-s
declare=vStart=9
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-94.7
declare=Lift=0.04

[T9 superior]
+ovt9-s
declare=vStart=8
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-98.6
declare=Lift=0.01

[T10 superior]
+ovt10-s
declare=vStart=7
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-102.2
declare=Lift=-0.02

[T11 superior]
+ovt11-s
declare=vStart=6
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-105.5
declare=Lift=-0.05

[T12 superior]
+ovt12-s
declare=vStart=5
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-108.5
declare=Lift=-0.1

[L1 superior]
+ovl1-s
declare=vStart=4
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-105.8
declare=Lift=-0.15

[L2 superior]
+ovl2-s
declare=vStart=3
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-101.1
declare=Lift=-0.15

[L3 superior]
+ovl3-s
declare=vStart=2
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-94.4
declare=Lift=-0.10

[L4 superior]
+ovl4-s
declare=vStart=1
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-85.7
declare=Lift=-0.05

[L5 superior]
+ovl5-s
declare=vStart=0
declare=Dbg=1
declare=Yaw=180
declare=Pitch=-75

===== rainbow.ini ================================

+a0.1 -j
declare=sotdw=0.5

declare=mVC1=439
declare=mVC2=430
declare=mVC3=21
declare=mVC4=23
declare=mVC5=25
declare=mVC6=26
declare=mVC7=487

declare=mVT=430
declare=mVT1=439
declare=mVT9=431
declare=mVT10=433
declare=mVT11=435
declare=mVT12=437

declare=mVL1=439
declare=mVL2=431
declare=mVL3=433
declare=mVL4=435
declare=mVL5=437

Post a reply to this message

Am 02.11.2012 17:50, schrieb Cousin Ricky:
> POV-Ray 3.7 does not give sufficient information when there is an error on the
> command line.  When I issue a line such as:
>
>     povray 'spine.ini[Atlas superior]' rainbow.ini
>
> I get back:
>
>     Problem with option setting
>     povray spine.ini[Atlas superior] rainbow.ini
>     Failed to parse command-line option

Please try

     povray '"spine.ini[Atlas superior]"' rainbow.ini

see FS#42; I did notice this unexpected behaviour a while ago, but 
didn't realize until now that it is actually an error (being different 
in behaviour from 3.6), so originally it was categorized and titled as a 
feature request.

Post a reply to this message

clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 02.11.2012 17:50, schrieb Cousin Ricky:
> > POV-Ray 3.7 does not give sufficient information when there is an error on the
> > command line.  When I issue a line such as:
> >
> >     povray 'spine.ini[Atlas superior]' rainbow.ini
> >
> > I get back:
> >
> >     Problem with option setting
> >     povray spine.ini[Atlas superior] rainbow.ini
> >     Failed to parse command-line option
>
> Please try
>
>      povray '"spine.ini[Atlas superior]"' rainbow.ini

Thanks for the tip.  However, my point is that I shoudn't have to stare at the
command line for 5 or 10 minutes trying to figure out why the front end doesn't
like it.  The front end should give more information about what part of the
command line it failed to parse.

I just spent 20 minutes (no exaggeration) trying to figure out why a command
that worked just a few minutes earlier stopped working.  I tried retyping the
command, fooling around with quotation marks, changing the .ini file section,
and just plain staring before I figured out that I was in the wrong directory.
If the front end had reported that it couldn't find the .ini file, I would have
noticed my mistake in half a second.

Post a reply to this message

Le 29/12/2012 16:02, Cousin Ricky nous fit lire :
> clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
>> Am 02.11.2012 17:50, schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>>> POV-Ray 3.7 does not give sufficient information when there is an error on the
>>> command line.  When I issue a line such as:
>>>
>>>     povray 'spine.ini[Atlas superior]' rainbow.ini
>>>
>>> I get back:
>>>
>>>     Problem with option setting
>>>     povray spine.ini[Atlas superior] rainbow.ini
>>>     Failed to parse command-line option
>>
>> Please try
>>
>>      povray '"spine.ini[Atlas superior]"' rainbow.ini
> 
> Thanks for the tip.  However, my point is that I shoudn't have to stare at the
> command line for 5 or 10 minutes trying to figure out why the front end doesn't
> like it.  The front end should give more information about what part of the
> command line it failed to parse.
> 
> I just spent 20 minutes (no exaggeration) trying to figure out why a command
> that worked just a few minutes earlier stopped working.  I tried retyping the
> command, fooling around with quotation marks, changing the .ini file section,
> and just plain staring before I figured out that I was in the wrong directory.
> If the front end had reported that it couldn't find the .ini file, I would have
> noticed my mistake in half a second.
> 

Would have the command line splitted by argument (hence displaying:
* povray
* spine.ini[Atlas
* superior]
* rainbow.ini
) helped ?

I'm afraid line-feed might not be the right character to use, IIRC my
very long command line.

May be some other markup around each element ?
(it's in vfe/unix/unixconsole.cpp circa line 541)

Post a reply to this message

Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
>
> Would have the command line splitted by argument (hence displaying:
> * povray
> * spine.ini[Atlas
> * superior]
> * rainbow.ini
> ) helped ?
>
> I'm afraid line-feed might not be the right character to use, IIRC my
> very long command line.
>
> May be some other markup around each element ?
> (it's in vfe/unix/unixconsole.cpp circa line 541)

A parse tree might be overkill (although it would have helped in this particular
example), and yet wouldn't necessarily give sufficient helpful information.  You
can split "povray nexiste[pas]" any way you want, but that won't tell you that
the file is in a different directory.  The way POV-Ray 3.6 handles command line
errors is fine.  Why was it changed?

This is sample output from a POV-Ray 3.7 call:
______________________________________________________________________

ricky@linux-g9n0:~/Documents/POV-Ray/vseries> povray nexiste[pas]
povray: This is a RELEASE CANDIDATE version of POV-Ray. General distribution is
discouraged.

Problem with option setting
povray nexiste[pas]
Failed to parse command-line option
______________________________________________________________________


This is sample output from a POV-Ray 3.6 call ("povray36" is aliased to the 3.6
executable):
______________________________________________________________________

ricky@linux-g9n0:~/Documents/POV-Ray/vseries> povray36 nexiste[pas]
Could not find file 'nexiste.ini'
Cannot open INI file 'nexiste'.
Cannot process command-line due to a parse error.
This is not a valid command-line. Check the command-line for syntax errors,
correct them, and try again!
Valid command-line switches are explained in detail in the reference part of the
documentation.
To get a short list of command-line switches, use either the '-h', '-?', '-help'
or '--help' switch.
Failed to render file due to error(s)!
______________________________________________________________________

The first two lines of the 3.6 error message tell me exactly what I need to
know.

Come to think of it, maybe I should just use 3.6 whenever I run across a problem
like this.  Nevertheless, this won't help where the front end changes, such as
with new command line switches, new quotation mark behavior, or new bugs.  It's
also a rather kludgey way to handle a problem with a new and improved software
version.

Post a reply to this message

On 29.12.12 22:52, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> The way POV-Ray 3.6 handles command line
> errors is fine.  Why was it changed?

It was not actually changed: It is just that the errors are detected at 
different places in the code now, and that some error messages aren't output 
any more, which is an oversight, not an intentional omission. The command 
line error message output simply had low priority so far.

	Thorsten

Post a reply to this message