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+parse-options API
+=================
+
+The parse-options API is used to parse and massage options in Git
+and to provide a usage help with consistent look.
+
+Basics
+------
+
+The argument vector `argv[]` may usually contain mandatory or optional
+'non-option arguments', e.g. a filename or a branch, 'options', and
+'subcommands'.
+Options are optional arguments that start with a dash and
+that allow to change the behavior of a command.
+
+* There are basically three types of options:
+ 'boolean' options,
+ options with (mandatory) 'arguments' and
+ options with 'optional arguments'
+ (i.e. a boolean option that can be adjusted).
+
+* There are basically two forms of options:
+ 'Short options' consist of one dash (`-`) and one alphanumeric
+ character.
+ 'Long options' begin with two dashes (`--`) and some
+ alphanumeric characters.
+
+* Options are case-sensitive.
+ Please define 'lower-case long options' only.
+
+The parse-options API allows:
+
+* 'stuck' and 'separate form' of options with arguments.
+ `-oArg` is stuck, `-o Arg` is separate form.
+ `--option=Arg` is stuck, `--option Arg` is separate form.
+
+* Long options may be 'abbreviated', as long as the abbreviation
+ is unambiguous.
+
+* Short options may be bundled, e.g. `-a -b` can be specified as `-ab`.
+
+* Boolean long options can be 'negated' (or 'unset') by prepending
+ `no-`, e.g. `--no-abbrev` instead of `--abbrev`. Conversely,
+ options that begin with `no-` can be 'negated' by removing it.
+ Other long options can be unset (e.g., set string to NULL, set
+ integer to 0) by prepending `no-`.
+
+* Options and non-option arguments can clearly be separated using the `--`
+ option, e.g. `-a -b --option -- --this-is-a-file` indicates that
+ `--this-is-a-file` must not be processed as an option.
+
+Subcommands are special in a couple of ways:
+
+* Subcommands only have long form, and they have no double dash prefix, no
+ negated form, and no description, and they don't take any arguments, and
+ can't be abbreviated.
+
+* There must be exactly one subcommand among the arguments, or zero if the
+ command has a default operation mode.
+
+* All arguments following the subcommand are considered to be arguments of
+ the subcommand, and, conversely, arguments meant for the subcommand may
+ not precede the subcommand.
+
+Therefore, if the options array contains at least one subcommand and
+`parse_options()` encounters the first dashless argument, it will either:
+
+* stop and return, if that dashless argument is a known subcommand, setting
+ `value` to the function pointer associated with that subcommand, storing
+ the name of the subcommand in argv[0], and leaving the rest of the
+ arguments unprocessed, or
+
+* stop and return, if it was invoked with the `PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND_OPTIONAL`
+ flag and that dashless argument doesn't match any subcommands, leaving
+ `value` unchanged and the rest of the arguments unprocessed, or
+
+* show error and usage, and abort.
+
+Steps to parse options
+----------------------
+
+. `#include "parse-options.h"`
+
+. define a NULL-terminated
+ `static const char * const builtin_foo_usage[]` array
+ containing alternative usage strings
+
+. define `builtin_foo_options` array as described below
+ in section 'Data Structure'.
+
+. in `cmd_foo(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)`
+ call
+
+ argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, builtin_foo_options, builtin_foo_usage, flags);
++
+`parse_options()` will filter out the processed options of `argv[]` and leave the
+non-option arguments in `argv[]`.
+`argc` is updated appropriately because of the assignment.
++
+You can also pass NULL instead of a usage array as the fifth parameter of
+parse_options(), to avoid displaying a help screen with usage info and
+option list. This should only be done if necessary, e.g. to implement
+a limited parser for only a subset of the options that needs to be run
+before the full parser, which in turn shows the full help message.
++
+Flags are the bitwise-or of:
+
+`PARSE_OPT_KEEP_DASHDASH`::
+ Keep the `--` that usually separates options from
+ non-option arguments.
+
+`PARSE_OPT_STOP_AT_NON_OPTION`::
+ Usually the whole argument vector is massaged and reordered.
+ Using this flag, processing is stopped at the first non-option
+ argument.
+
+`PARSE_OPT_KEEP_ARGV0`::
+ Keep the first argument, which contains the program name. It's
+ removed from argv[] by default.
+
+`PARSE_OPT_KEEP_UNKNOWN_OPT`::
+ Keep unknown options instead of erroring out. This doesn't
+ work for all combinations of arguments as users might expect
+ it to do. E.g. if the first argument in `--unknown --known`
+ takes a value (which we can't know), the second one is
+ mistakenly interpreted as a known option. Similarly, if
+ `PARSE_OPT_STOP_AT_NON_OPTION` is set, the second argument in
+ `--unknown value` will be mistakenly interpreted as a
+ non-option, not as a value belonging to the unknown option,
+ the parser early. That's why parse_options() errors out if
+ both options are set.
+ Note that non-option arguments are always kept, even without
+ this flag.
+
+`PARSE_OPT_NO_INTERNAL_HELP`::
+ By default, parse_options() handles `-h`, `--help` and
+ `--help-all` internally, by showing a help screen. This option
+ turns it off and allows one to add custom handlers for these
+ options, or to just leave them unknown.
+
+`PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND_OPTIONAL`::
+ Don't error out when no subcommand is specified.
+
+Note that `PARSE_OPT_STOP_AT_NON_OPTION` is incompatible with subcommands;
+while `PARSE_OPT_KEEP_DASHDASH` and `PARSE_OPT_KEEP_UNKNOWN_OPT` can only be
+used with subcommands when combined with `PARSE_OPT_SUBCOMMAND_OPTIONAL`.
+
+Data Structure
+--------------
+
+The main data structure is an array of the `option` struct,
+say `static struct option builtin_add_options[]`.
+There are some macros to easily define options:
+
+`OPT__ABBREV(&int_var)`::
+ Add `--abbrev[=<n>]`.
+
+`OPT__COLOR(&int_var, description)`::
+ Add `--color[=<when>]` and `--no-color`.
+
+`OPT__DRY_RUN(&int_var, description)`::
+ Add `-n, --dry-run`.
+
+`OPT__FORCE(&int_var, description)`::
+ Add `-f, --force`.
+
+`OPT__QUIET(&int_var, description)`::
+ Add `-q, --quiet`.
+
+`OPT__VERBOSE(&int_var, description)`::
+ Add `-v, --verbose`.
+
+`OPT_GROUP(description)`::
+ Start an option group. `description` is a short string that
+ describes the group or an empty string.
+ Start the description with an upper-case letter.
+
+`OPT_BOOL(short, long, &int_var, description)`::
+ Introduce a boolean option. `int_var` is set to one with
+ `--option` and set to zero with `--no-option`.
+
+`OPT_COUNTUP(short, long, &int_var, description)`::
+ Introduce a count-up option.
+ Each use of `--option` increments `int_var`, starting from zero
+ (even if initially negative), and `--no-option` resets it to
+ zero. To determine if `--option` or `--no-option` was encountered at
+ all, initialize `int_var` to a negative value, and if it is still
+ negative after parse_options(), then neither `--option` nor
+ `--no-option` was seen.
+
+`OPT_BIT(short, long, &int_var, description, mask)`::
+ Introduce a boolean option.
+ If used, `int_var` is bitwise-ored with `mask`.
+
+`OPT_NEGBIT(short, long, &int_var, description, mask)`::
+ Introduce a boolean option.
+ If used, `int_var` is bitwise-anded with the inverted `mask`.
+
+`OPT_SET_INT(short, long, &int_var, description, integer)`::
+ Introduce an integer option.
+ `int_var` is set to `integer` with `--option`, and
+ reset to zero with `--no-option`.
+
+`OPT_STRING(short, long, &str_var, arg_str, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with string argument.
+ The string argument is put into `str_var`.
+
+`OPT_STRING_LIST(short, long, &struct string_list, arg_str, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with string argument.
+ The string argument is stored as an element in `string_list`.
+ Use of `--no-option` will clear the list of preceding values.
+
+`OPT_INTEGER(short, long, &int_var, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with integer argument.
+ The integer is put into `int_var`.
+
+`OPT_MAGNITUDE(short, long, &unsigned_long_var, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with a size argument. The argument must be a
+ non-negative integer and may include a suffix of 'k', 'm' or 'g' to
+ scale the provided value by 1024, 1024^2 or 1024^3 respectively.
+ The scaled value is put into `unsigned_long_var`.
+
+`OPT_EXPIRY_DATE(short, long, &timestamp_t_var, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with expiry date argument, see `parse_expiry_date()`.
+ The timestamp is put into `timestamp_t_var`.
+
+`OPT_CALLBACK(short, long, &var, arg_str, description, func_ptr)`::
+ Introduce an option with argument.
+ The argument will be fed into the function given by `func_ptr`
+ and the result will be put into `var`.
+ See 'Option Callbacks' below for a more elaborate description.
+
+`OPT_FILENAME(short, long, &var, description)`::
+ Introduce an option with a filename argument.
+ The filename will be prefixed by passing the filename along with
+ the prefix argument of `parse_options()` to `prefix_filename()`.
+
+`OPT_NUMBER_CALLBACK(&var, description, func_ptr)`::
+ Recognize numerical options like -123 and feed the integer as
+ if it was an argument to the function given by `func_ptr`.
+ The result will be put into `var`. There can be only one such
+ option definition. It cannot be negated and it takes no
+ arguments. Short options that happen to be digits take
+ precedence over it.
+
+`OPT_COLOR_FLAG(short, long, &int_var, description)`::
+ Introduce an option that takes an optional argument that can
+ have one of three values: "always", "never", or "auto". If the
+ argument is not given, it defaults to "always". The `--no-` form
+ works like `--long=never`; it cannot take an argument. If
+ "always", set `int_var` to 1; if "never", set `int_var` to 0; if
+ "auto", set `int_var` to 1 if stdout is a tty or a pager,
+ 0 otherwise.
+
+`OPT_NOOP_NOARG(short, long)`::
+ Introduce an option that has no effect and takes no arguments.
+ Use it to hide deprecated options that are still to be recognized
+ and ignored silently.
+
+`OPT_PASSTHRU(short, long, &char_var, arg_str, description, flags)`::
+ Introduce an option that will be reconstructed into a char* string,
+ which must be initialized to NULL. This is useful when you need to
+ pass the command-line option to another command. Any previous value
+ will be overwritten, so this should only be used for options where
+ the last one specified on the command line wins.
+
+`OPT_PASSTHRU_ARGV(short, long, &strvec_var, arg_str, description, flags)`::
+ Introduce an option where all instances of it on the command-line will
+ be reconstructed into a strvec. This is useful when you need to
+ pass the command-line option, which can be specified multiple times,
+ to another command.
+
+`OPT_CMDMODE(short, long, &int_var, description, enum_val)`::
+ Define an "operation mode" option, only one of which in the same
+ group of "operating mode" options that share the same `int_var`
+ can be given by the user. `int_var` is set to `enum_val` when the
+ option is used, but an error is reported if other "operating mode"
+ option has already set its value to the same `int_var`.
+ In new commands consider using subcommands instead.
+
+`OPT_SUBCOMMAND(long, &fn_ptr, subcommand_fn)`::
+ Define a subcommand. `subcommand_fn` is put into `fn_ptr` when
+ this subcommand is used.
+
+The last element of the array must be `OPT_END()`.
+
+If not stated otherwise, interpret the arguments as follows:
+
+* `short` is a character for the short option
+ (e.g. `'e'` for `-e`, use `0` to omit),
+
+* `long` is a string for the long option
+ (e.g. `"example"` for `--example`, use `NULL` to omit),
+
+* `int_var` is an integer variable,
+
+* `str_var` is a string variable (`char *`),
+
+* `arg_str` is the string that is shown as argument
+ (e.g. `"branch"` will result in `<branch>`).
+ If set to `NULL`, three dots (`...`) will be displayed.
+
+* `description` is a short string to describe the effect of the option.
+ It shall begin with a lower-case letter and a full stop (`.`) shall be
+ omitted at the end.
+
+Option Callbacks
+----------------
+
+The function must be defined in this form:
+
+ int func(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset)
+
+The callback mechanism is as follows:
+
+* Inside `func`, the only interesting member of the structure
+ given by `opt` is the void pointer `opt->value`.
+ `*opt->value` will be the value that is saved into `var`, if you
+ use `OPT_CALLBACK()`.
+ For example, do `*(unsigned long *)opt->value = 42;` to get 42
+ into an `unsigned long` variable.
+
+* Return value `0` indicates success and non-zero return
+ value will invoke `usage_with_options()` and, thus, die.
+
+* If the user negates the option, `arg` is `NULL` and `unset` is 1.
+
+Sophisticated option parsing
+----------------------------
+
+If you need, for example, option callbacks with optional arguments
+or without arguments at all, or if you need other special cases,
+that are not handled by the macros above, you need to specify the
+members of the `option` structure manually.
+
+This is not covered in this document, but well documented
+in `parse-options.h` itself.
+
+Examples
+--------
+
+See `test-parse-options.c` and
+`builtin/add.c`,
+`builtin/clone.c`,
+`builtin/commit.c`,
+`builtin/fetch.c`,
+`builtin/fsck.c`,
+`builtin/rm.c`
+for real-world examples.