Re: proper stream to aim --help output to

[Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu>]

Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@compsoc.dur.ac.uk> writes:

> Many programs offer helpful usage text when passed an invalid argument,
> or --help, -help etc. However there seems to be no consensus on which
> stream to aim the output at : stdout or stderr.

Here is part of what the GNU coding standards say about --help:

`--help'
     This option should output brief documentation for how to invoke the
     program, on standard output, then exit successfully.  Other
     options and arguments should be ignored once this is seen, and the
     program should not perform its normal function.

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