No help text or man page for qvm-console-dispvm

[andrewdavidwong]

How to file a helpful issue

Qubes OS release

4.1.1

Brief summary

There's no help text or man page for qvm-console-dispvm.

Steps to reproduce

In dom0:

$ qvm-console-dispvm --help
Invalid qube name --help
$ qvm-console-dispvm -h
Invalid qube name -h
$ man qvm-console-dispvm
No manual entry for qvm-console-dispvm

Expected behavior

Help text and a man page.

Actual behavior

Neither.

[unman]

There is, of course, help available on calling `qvm-console-dispvm`

[andrewdavidwong]

There is, of course, help available on calling qvm-console-dispvm

I'm not comfortable with executing a command in dom0 without first having some idea of what it will do. Having to execute a command without any arguments in order to get the help text feels a bit shooting first and asking questions later. Also, since not every command works this way, it's not a reliable approach. Some commands will just immediately perform an action (potentially an irreversible action that you don't want).

[DemiMarie]

Some commands will just immediately perform an action (potentially an irreversible action that you don't want).

Are there any such commands in dom0? There really should not be.

[andrewdavidwong]

Some commands will just immediately perform an action (potentially an irreversible action that you don't want).

Are there any such commands in dom0? There really should not be.

qubes-dom0-update, for example, and potentially any non-Qubes command.

[DemiMarie]

Some commands will just immediately perform an action (potentially an irreversible action that you don't want).

Are there any such commands in dom0? There really should not be.

qubes-dom0-update, for example, and potentially any non-Qubes command.

qubes-dom0-update gives you a prompt and the default is to cancel.

[unman]

`qubes-dom0-update` gives you a prompt and the default is to cancel.

But it has performed significant actions first, before it gets to the "prompt" stage.

[andrewdavidwong]

But it has performed significant actions first, before it gets to the "prompt" stage.

Yes, exactly.

qubes-dom0-update gives you a prompt and the default is to cancel.

I think you're getting caught up on the specifics of one example and missing the point. The point really isn't whether, as a contingent matter of fact, there happen to be any such commands in dom0 right now. The point is that even experienced Linux users can't know exactly what a novel command will do from its name alone. If they try to find out what the command does by checking for help text and a man page and come up empty-handed, they shouldn't then be required to take a gamble and execute the command blindly in the hope that it will finally reveal its secrets (such as its basic function). It's just bad practice.