Re: "CHAR_MIN - X" in help/version flags

[Tim Rice]

Hey Shawn,

> They're not listed in the short options passed to getopt_long(), hence the
> error. But ~ isn't actually what CHAR_MIN - 2 is; it's just what you get
> when you convert an int outside of the range of chars to a char. Those
> values are ints that can't be represented in a char type, meaning they
> can't go in the short options so they're ideal for a long-only option to
> avoid any chance of future conflicts - only so many single character
> options available to use. If you want to make -h a synonym for --help,
> you'd have to add it to the short options and change the --help entry in
> the long options to return 'h', and adjust the argument-handling switch too.

I had a hunch it must be something like that, but was afraid it was a 
misunderstanding. Thanks for the clear explanation! It sounds like we should be 
okay to go ahead with implementing an awk-like -h/-V.

~ Tim