Here is a feature comparison of AutoOpts and several other command line parser generators. All except argtable and argp share certain characteristics:

• They read a file that describes the program options and produce code to parse command line options. Each has their own format for describing options.
• All versions support both short options (flags) and GNU-type long options. clig, however, is unique in that you must choose one or the other. Either way, clig options are introduced with a single hyphen. The other packages identify long options with doubled hyphens.
• They produce tailored code for parsing the command line.
• They support the C programming language.
• The global option state is stored in a global structure.
• They produce usage text.

The 9 parsers compared are:

1. AutoOpts is a component of AutoGen. AutoGen has many capabilities, but here we concentrate on the portion called AutoOpts. AutoOpts is the most general of these programs, and has the most extensive documentation. It is the only one that supports shell and Scheme scripts as well as C programs.

2. clig can generate either C or Tcl option parsing code. It can also process multiple arguments per single option.

3. genparse generates a wrapper around ``getopt_long()'' to parse the command line options.

4. gaa supports option input from a configuration file as well as the command line. NOTE HOWEVER: gaa is not maintained.

5. gengetopt generates a C function that uses ``getopt_long()'' function to parse the command line options, to validate them and fills a struct.

6. opt is a subroutine library. Options are specified by calling a registration routine in the library, instead of using a separate option specification file. Global option state is stored in variables passed by address to the registration routine. It has some strange syntax for its own options: '@' says to read a config file, '$' says to go into interactive mode.

7. argtable is a little different from the others in that the argument descriptor is built up dynamically with run time calls to various constructor routines. There are eight argument descriptor types (structure types) and three constructors for each type, plus an ``end'' function.
   Developers will need to incorporate the library into their distribution.

8. wyg uses flex and bison to generate a configuration file parser, but uses getopt_long to parse the command line options.

9. argp is a tiny step above ``getopts_long(3GNU)''. It handles looping over the command line arguments, but does not handle the individual options. It calls a hand crafted callback function that must do a ``switch'' on the option key (flag character). The needed information is conveyed to the ``argp_parse'' function via a hand crafted complex data structure.

If a feature is present (or absent) in only one or two implementations, then the "yes" or "no" is emphasised.

shell script app

This parser will either produce a shell script to parse options, a program that emits digested information as a list of environment variable assignments, or both. AutoOpts will produce both.

Perl app

This particular parser is primarily designed for Perl applications.

config file input

Option settings can be obtained from one or more configuration files.

config file output

By specifying the "--save-opts" option, the option processing state will be saved to either a named file, or to the last named search place (highest priority initialization file).

config file editor

The option definition file may specify support for the "--reset-option" option with the resettable attribute. In conjunction with emitting a configuration file, this enables a fully automated configuration file editor with the output assured to pass option processing consistency checks.

config file library

A separately callable interface is provided so programs may use the config file parser code without having to also use the option processing code.

embedded options

Option settings can be obtained from program input files. When they are encountered, the text can be passed to a function that will parse it and adjust the current option settings.

environment input

Option settings can be obtained from environment variables.

immediate handling

Sometimes it is necessary to handle options out of order. For example, a command line option used to bypass initialization files must be processed before processing initialization files. Since command line options override initialization files, the initialization files must be handled first. Option parsers that have this "immediate handling" capability can process marked options early.

callback functions

A means is provided for calling a user-supplied function when a particular option is encountered.

getopt-long

Some developers are willing to forego some of the features of AutoOpts in order to not have to futz with carrying a copy of libopts with their project. AutoOpts can now generate an option processing loop that uses getopt_long(3GNU) to parse the options. Several other parsers require the library in order to use it.

multiple occurrence

options may appear multiple times on the command line. Some of the parsers constrain options to appearing once only.

option arg types

Some parsers have special treatment coded in for different types of option arguments. "getopt", for example, treats them all as strings. Others have a restricted list of handling methods. (Converting integers to their binary values, for example.) AutoOpts supports several, and also makes it easy to roll your own via an integrated callback procedures.

enumeration opts

A numeric value is specified by name. The values are set with an enumeration.

set membership opts

A set of bits are turned on, turned off and tested by name.

file name

The directory portion of the name is validated for existence. Existence or non-existence of the file may also be validated. It may also be pre-opened during option processing.

optional argument

refers to the argument to an option. POSIX and most command line parsers require an option to either not have an argument or else the argument must be supplied on the command line. GNU's getopt_long and some of these parsers support the notion of letting the option argument be "optional".

standard opts

are pre-defined options that can be trivially incorporated into a user's set of options. They can also thereby be used for standardizing on the flag character and option name. This can also be viewed as a template for implementing project specific standard options.

library options

Is there a means for handling options for library code without having to manually incorporate them into a program's option processing code? This is often handled by invoking additional parsers for unknown options. AutoOpt-ed programs calling AutoOpt-ed libraries may combine their option information automatically, yielding a very consistent ``look and feel''. AutoOpt-ed programs and libraries may work with such code by not error-failing on unknown options and instead performing the necessary actions when such options are encountered. ``argp'' code only works with libraries that support argp argument handling functions.

range checks

These parsers will (optionally) validate that integer option arguments have a value that lies within a specified range. Some (e.g. AutoOpts) will allow for multiple ranges.

consistency checks

verify that conflicting options do not appear together, and options that require other options are allowed only if those other options are present.

interactive

means that the option processing package is able to interactively query the user for option state.

reset/restart

means that you can save your current (possibly initial) processing state and reprocess options. In this fashion, a daemon process could reload its initialization (config) files.

reordering

Some traditional programs also require intermixed command line options and operands. AutoOpts can move all the command options to the beginning of the argument list and process them. NB: "reordering" is implemented by getopt_long(3GNU), so it is automatically incorporated into parsers that use that library function.

main procedure

AutoOpts will produce any of several main procedures, including versions for supporting shell scripts, Guile-based utilities, mains that operate on either operand lists or lists read from stdin, or even customized main procedures.

man page

The utility will take the argument description and produce a usable "command and utility" man page.

texinfo invoking

The utility will take the argument description and produce a usable "invoking" chapter or section for texinfo documentation.

exit code enumeration

The list of exit codes are enumerated for use by the C program and inserted into the generated documentation.

time duration

The option argument may be a string specifying a time duration that gets converted into a count of seconds.

time and date

The option argument may specify a time and date. It gets converted into a count of seconds since the epoch, per the rules for getdate(3posix).

i18n support

By compiling your code with ENABLE_NLS defined, you will enable a translation function generated into your code. By providing translations of the strings found in the distributed header file, ${prefix}/include/usage-txt.h, AutoOpts error messages and usage text will be translated before processing begins.

developer dependencies

An application developer that uses the parsing tool must have the named tool(s) at his disposal.

user dependencies

A user must either have the referenced C library installed, or else the developer must ship a copy of the library with his application.

[1] Option argument handling is programmable. Several kinds of argument attributes may be specified. See the list of features, Option Argument Specification.

[2] There is a user-visible dependency iff the developer does a dynamic link to the libopts.so library. Developers are free to ship libopts with their product in either source or binary form. See the AutoOpts page for details on the open-source licensing options.

A Debian package would need only a dependency on the package supplying libopts (libopts-41, at present).

[3] opt supports a different argument type for each fundamental type, plus booleans, inverted booleans, toggling options and a couple others.

Also note that some of these parsers depend upon the GNU getopt_long(3GNU) function. Those that do need to remember that it is under the GNU LGPL license. Developers using the AutoOpts command line parsing system may choose to use either the included libopts library or getopt_long(3GNU) as the parsing engine.

-- James R. Van Zandt
-- Bruce Korb