[tahoe-lafs-trac-stream] [tahoe-lafs] #2088: create-node problem

[tahoe-lafs]

#2088: create-node problem
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
     Reporter:  jbark55  |      Owner:  warner
         Type:  defect   |     Status:  new
     Priority:  normal   |  Milestone:  undecided
    Component:  code-    |    Version:  1.10.0
  frontend-cli           |   Keywords:  usability new-user brians-opinion-
   Resolution:           |  needed
Launchpad Bug:           |
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
Changes (by zooko):

 * keywords:   => usability new-user brians-opinion-needed
 * owner:  daira => warner
 * component:  unknown => code-frontend-cli


Comment:

 I was watching over jbark55's shoulder, and I could tell that he assumed
 "{{{create node}}}" would create a node in the current working directory.

 So how can we solve this?

 Option (a): Make the error message more explicit. It already has the
 information in it! But maybe redundantly adding the information would have
 let jbark55 notice the information in the message, like this:

 {{{
 $ tahoe create-node
 Attempting to create node in the default directory
 '/home/jonathanbarker/.tahoe'.
 The base directory '/home/jonathanbarker/.tahoe' is not empty.
 To avoid clobbering anything, I am going to quit now.
 Please use a different directory, or empty this one.
 }}}

 Note that this kind of redundancy-adding is definitely contrary to the
 preference for succinctness and non-redundancy that Brian has often
 expressed in the past, so I would hesitate to do this without some kind of
 approval from Brian. (*Zooko goes and adds {{{brians-opinion-needed}}} to
 this ticket.*)
 }}}

 Option (b): stop having a default directory for "{{{tahoe create-node}}}"!
 How often do you want to create a node in a default directory, anyway? I
 don't like defaults in general, and prefer to require people to specify
 explicitly what they want, even though that is more verbose and more
 typing. So in Option (b) it would say:

 {{{
 $ tahoe create-node
 Usage:  tahoe [global-opts] create-node [options] NODEDIR
 Options:
       --no-storage   Do not offer storage service to other nodes.
   -C, --basedir=     Same as --node-directory (default
 /home/zooko/.tahoe).
   -n, --nickname=    Specify the nickname for this node.
   -i, --introducer=  Specify the introducer FURL to use.
   -p, --webport=     Specify which TCP port to run the HTTP interface on.
 Use
                      'none' to disable. [default:
 tcp:3456:interface=127.0.0.1]
       --version
       --help         Display this help and exit.

 /home/zooko/playground/LAFS/tahoe-lafs/support/bin/tahoe:  Wrong number of
 arguments.

 $ tahoe create-node .
 Node created in '/home/jonathanbarker/newemptydirectory'
  Please set [client]introducer.furl= in tahoe.cfg!
  The node cannot connect to a grid without it.
  Please set [node]nickname= in tahoe.cfg


 }}}

 This is ''also'' somewhat opposed to the principle that the Brian-in-my-
 head has of conciseness, so I guess we need the real Brian to come back
 and weigh in. In my opinion, option (b) is fine and we should do it.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/2088#comment:3>
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