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cli: improve output and consistency for unknown (sub)commands
Before this patch, output for invalid top-level and sub-commands differed. For top-level commands, the CLI would print an error-message and a suggestion to use `--help`. For missing *subcommands*, we would hit a different code-path, and different output, which includes full "usage" / "help" output. While it is a common convention to show usage output, and may have been a nice gesture when docker was still young and only had a few commands and options ("you did something wrong; here's an overview of what you can use"), that's no longer the case, and many commands have a _very_ long output. The result of this is that the error message, which is the relevant information in this case - "You mis-typed something" - is lost in the output, and hard to find (sometimes even requiring scrolling back). The output is also confusing, because it _looks_ like something ran successfully (most of the output is not about the error!). Even further; the suggested resolution (try `--help` to see the correct options) is rather redundant, because running teh command with `--help` produces _exactly_ the same output as was just showh, baring the error message. As a fun fact, due to the usage output being printed, the output even contains not one, but _two_ "call to actions"; - `See 'docker volume --help'.` (under the erro message) - `Run 'docker volume COMMAND --help' for more information on a command.` (under the usage output) In short; the output is too verbose, confusing, and doesn't provide a good UX. Let's reduce the output produced so that the focus is on the important information. This patch: - Changes the usage to the short-usage. - Changes the error-message to mention the _full_ command instead of only the command after `docker` (so `docker no-such-command` instead of `no-such-command`). - Prefixes the error message with the binary / root-command name (usually `docker:`); this is something we can still decide on, but it's a pattern we already use in some places. The motivation for this is that `docker` commands can often produce output that's a combination of output from the CLI itself, output from the daemon, and even output from the container. The `docker:` prefix helps to distinguish where the message originated from (the `docker` CLI in this case). - Adds an empty line between the error-message and the "call to action" (`Run 'docker volume --help'...` in the example below). This helps separating the error message ("unkown flag") from the call-to-action. Before this patch: Unknown top-level command: docker nosuchcommand foo docker: 'nosuchcommand' is not a docker command. See 'docker --help' Unknown sub-command: docker volume nosuchcommand foo Usage: docker volume COMMAND Manage volumes Commands: create Create a volume inspect Display detailed information on one or more volumes ls List volumes prune Remove unused local volumes rm Remove one or more volumes update Update a volume (cluster volumes only) Run 'docker volume COMMAND --help' for more information on a command. After this patch: Unknown top-level command: docker nosuchcommand foo docker: unknown command: docker nosuchcommand Run 'docker --help' for more information Unknown sub-command: docker volume nosuchcommand foo docker: unknown command: 'docker volume nosuchcommand' Usage: docker volume COMMAND Run 'docker volume --help' for more information Signed-off-by: Sebastiaan van Stijn <[email protected]>
1 parent 5aae44b commit a6e96c7

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6 files changed

+21
-10
lines changed

6 files changed

+21
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lines changed

cli-plugins/manager/cobra.go

Lines changed: 1 addition & 1 deletion
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli command.Cli, rootCmd *cobra.Command) (err e
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cmd.HelpFunc()(rootCmd, args)
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return nil
8484
}
85-
return fmt.Errorf("docker: '%s' is not a docker command.\nSee 'docker --help'", cmd.Name())
85+
return fmt.Errorf("docker: unknown command: docker %s\n\nRun 'docker --help' for more information", cmd.Name())
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},
8787
ValidArgsFunction: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
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// Delegate completion to plugin

cli/required.go

Lines changed: 12 additions & 3 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
11
package cli
22

33
import (
4-
"strings"
5-
64
"github.com/pkg/errors"
75
"github.com/spf13/cobra"
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)
@@ -14,7 +12,13 @@ func NoArgs(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
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}
1513

1614
if cmd.HasSubCommands() {
17-
return errors.Errorf("\n" + strings.TrimRight(cmd.UsageString(), "\n"))
15+
return errors.Errorf(
16+
"%[1]s: unknown command: %[2]s %[3]s\n\nUsage: %[4]s\n\nRun '%[2]s --help' for more information",
17+
binName(cmd),
18+
cmd.CommandPath(),
19+
args[0],
20+
cmd.UseLine(),
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)
1822
}
1923

2024
return errors.Errorf(
@@ -99,6 +103,11 @@ func ExactArgs(number int) cobra.PositionalArgs {
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}
100104
}
101105

106+
// binName returns the name of the binary / root command (usually 'docker').
107+
func binName(cmd *cobra.Command) string {
108+
return cmd.Root().Name()
109+
}
110+
102111
//nolint:unparam
103112
func pluralize(word string, number int) string {
104113
if number == 1 {

cmd/docker/docker.go

Lines changed: 1 addition & 1 deletion
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cli.TopLevelCommand {
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if len(args) == 0 {
8585
return command.ShowHelp(dockerCli.Err())(cmd, args)
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}
87-
return fmt.Errorf("docker: '%s' is not a docker command.\nSee 'docker --help'", args[0])
87+
return fmt.Errorf("docker: unknown command: docker %s\n\nRun 'docker --help' for more information", args[0])
8888
},
8989
PersistentPreRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
9090
return isSupported(cmd, dockerCli)

cmd/docker/docker_test.go

Lines changed: 1 addition & 1 deletion
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func TestExitStatusForInvalidSubcommandWithHelpFlag(t *testing.T) {
6666

6767
func TestExitStatusForInvalidSubcommand(t *testing.T) {
6868
err := runCliCommand(t, nil, nil, "invalid")
69-
assert.Check(t, is.ErrorContains(err, "docker: 'invalid' is not a docker command."))
69+
assert.Check(t, is.ErrorContains(err, "docker: 'docker invalid' is not a docker command."))
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}
7171

7272
func TestVersion(t *testing.T) {
Lines changed: 3 additions & 2 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
1-
docker: 'badmeta' is not a docker command.
2-
See 'docker --help'
1+
docker: unknown command: docker badmeta
2+
3+
Run 'docker --help' for more information
Lines changed: 3 additions & 2 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
1-
docker: 'nonexistent' is not a docker command.
2-
See 'docker --help'
1+
docker: unknown command: docker nonexistent
2+
3+
Run 'docker --help' for more information

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