Commandeer sets up command line flags based on struct fields and tags.
Do you...
- like to develop Go apps as libraries with tiny main packages?
- get frustrated keeping your flags up to date as your code evolves?
- feel irked by the overlap between comments on struct fields and help strings for flags?
- hate switching between your app's main and library packages?
You might like Commandeer. See the godoc for detailed usage, or just...
Here's how it works, define your app like so:
package myapp
import "fmt"
type Main struct {
Num int `help:"How many does it take?"`
Vehicle string `help:"What did they get?"`
}
func NewMain() *Main { return &Main{Num: 5, Vehicle: "jeep"} }
func (m *Main) Run() error {
if m.Num < 2 || m.Vehicle == "" {
return fmt.Errorf("Need more gophers and/or vehicles.")
}
fmt.Printf("%d gophers stole my %s!\n", m.Num, m.Vehicle)
return nil
}and your main package:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"github.com/jaffee/commandeer"
"github.com/jaffee/commandeer/examples/myapp"
)
func main() {
err := commandeer.Run(myapp.NewMain())
if err != nil {
fmt.Println(err)
}
}Now...
$ ./myapp -h
Usage of ./myapp:
-num int
How many does it take? (default 5)
-vehicle string
What did they get? (default "jeep")
$ ./myapp
5 gophers stole my jeep!
$ ./myapp -num 3 -vehicle horse
3 gophers stole my horse!Notice that Commandeer set up the default values for each flag based on the
values in the struct passed to Run.
Commandeer is set up for minimal dependency pollution - it uses only stdlib
dependencies and is a few hundred lines of code itself. You need only import it
from a tiny main package (as in the example), and shouldn't need to reference
it anywhere else.
If you aren't allergic to external dependencies, you can also try
github.com/jaffee/commandeer/cobrafy which pulls in the excellent Cobra and
pflag packages giving you GNU/POSIX style flags and some other nice features
should you care to use them. See the godoc, or the myapp-cobrafy example.
Yes please!
For small stuff, feel free to submit a PR directly. For larger things, especially API changes, it's best to make an issue first so it can be discussed.