[tahoe-lafs-trac-stream] [tahoe-lafs] #1376: make user-oriented error message for absence of node.url (was: CLI errors out due to absence of node.url)

[tahoe-lafs]

#1376: make user-oriented error message for absence of node.url
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     Reporter:  zooko              |       Owner:                           
         Type:  defect             |      Status:  new                      
     Priority:  major              |   Milestone:  undecided                
    Component:  code-frontend-cli  |     Version:  1.8.2                    
   Resolution:                     |    Keywords:  cli usability tahoe-* doc
Launchpad Bug:                     |  
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Changes (by zooko):

  * keywords:  cli usability tahoe-* => cli usability tahoe-* doc


Comment:

 So the underlying cause was that the node didn't start due to port number
 conflict and it emitted output which made it look like it had started
 (#1377).

 A secondary problem is that the {{{--help}}} text confused me about
 whether it should be able to run without {{{node.url}}}. After all, the
 {{{node.url}}} is only for finding the node, right? And the node directory
 is ''right there'', right? And the help text said "either contain a full
 Tahoe node, or a file named node.url", and I thought that I had the first
 half of that disjunction. This theory doesn't hold up if you think about
 it (because even though the node's persistent state is ''right there'',
 the client still needs the node's URL in order to communicate with it. (I
 was in a hurry and distracted because I was trying to set up a demo of
 LAFS-on-S3 during !PyCon so it was hard to think carefully.) (See also
 #1310 -- in my opinion it would be nice to separate the notions, names,
 and documentation of the directory that holds the gateway's persistent
 state from that which holds the client's persistent state.)

 A tertiary problem is that the error message was a Python backtrace
 instead of a user-oriented error message, which (depending on its content)
 could have clued me in faster as to what was the actual problem.

 So let's make this ticket to improve the {{{--help}}} text and replace the
 backtrace with a user-oriented error message.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1376#comment:3>
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