Re: Clarifying documentation of advanced command-line options

[James]

Hello,

On 16 December 2012 18:12, Paul Morris <address@hidden> wrote:
> Here is a suggestion for clarifying the documentation of advanced 
> command-line options, from a command-line beginner.
>
> http://www.lilypond.org/doc/v2.16/Documentation/usage/command_002dline-usage#advanced-command-line-options-for-lilypond
>
> I wanted to try SVG output, and after reading that page I was trying to use:
>
>   lilypond -dbackend='svg
>
> When the correct command is:
>
>   lilypond -dbackend=svg
>
> (I had to search and come across an old mailing list post to figure it out.)
>
> It seems that the documentation should not show the single quote since you do 
> not need it (and if you do include it things fail in rather baffling ways).  
> Why not just show \svg\ rather than \'svg\ ?
>
> This was particularly confusing because in the example given of
>
>   -dpoint-and-click=#f
>
> you use exactly #f as it is shown in the table of options, which suggests 
> that you would need to use exactly 'svg rather than svg.
>
> So another suggestion is to show an example with the full text command that 
> you would enter, like "lilypond -dbackend=svg"  (or at least "-dbackend=svg")
>
> Overall, I think these kinds of examples would help the command-line 
> documentation in general.  It's much easier for a beginner like myself to see 
> an example of what to do than to try and decipher things like the following 
> without one:
>
>   lilypond [option]… file…
>
>   -d[option-name]=[value],--define-default=[option-name]=[value]
>
> Thanks for considering these.  I imagine I am not the only one making a first 
> foray into the command-line with LilyPond, and these kinds of clarifications 
> should help us out.
>
> -Paul
>


Added as

http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/detail?id=3033

James