command line options

[Henry Spencer]

> I sense from the volume and quality of this discussion that improving
> getopt() is both desirable and non-trivial.  Let's keep at it.

Please do not confuse improving getopt() with improving the option syntax.
The former might be viable; the latter has been tried repeatedly, sometimes
by quite bright people, and has always failed.  If you must invent Yet
Another New Syntax, please start a mailing list so you won't bother the
rest of the community with this futility.
-- 
"Noalias must go.  This is           |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
non-negotiable."  --DMR              | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry