[tahoe-dev] [tahoe-lafs] #166: command line order is problematic

[tahoe-lafs]

#166: command line order is problematic
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 Reporter:  zandr                        |           Owner:  warner    
     Type:  defect                       |          Status:  assigned  
 Priority:  major                        |       Milestone:  eventually
Component:  code-frontend-cli            |         Version:  0.6.1     
 Keywords:  security usability unix mac  |   Launchpad_bug:            
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Changes (by davidsarah):

  * keywords:  => security usability unix mac
  * priority:  minor => major


Comment:

 Putting options after the verb creates a security hazard on Unix
 platforms: if the user tries to use wildcards to specify multiple local
 files (for {{{tahoe cp}}}, say), then a local filename may begin with
 {{{-}}} and be treated as an argument. If options had to be before the
 verb, that couldn't happen.

 Although this hazard can be worked around either by prefixing each
 wildcard argument with {{{./}}} or (for most commands) using {{{--}}}
 before any filename arguments, it's very easy to forget to do that. Also,
 more users know about the {{{--}}} workaround than {{{./}}}, and Tahoe
 does not currently appear to support {{{--}}}.

 OTOH, requiring {{{tahoe -r cp}}} would look backwards to many users. I
 don't know how to resolve that.

 (Windows doesn't have this problem because the shell doesn't automatically
 glob arguments.)

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Ticket URL: <http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/166#comment:12>
tahoe-lafs <http://allmydata.org>
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