Re: die if a module is missing

[John Devereux <john@devereux.me.uk>]

Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> writes:

> John Devereux wrote:
>> Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@googlemail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Am 12.03.2009 um 15:06 schrieb John Devereux:
>>>
>>>> Michael Bynum <mdbynum@gmail.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> This has burned me too.  It would be nice if the errors were more
>>>>> prominent, perhaps repeated at the end of the output?
>>>>> Mike
>>>> While we are on the subject, is it possible to make it "die" when
>>>> incorrect (non-existent) options are passed to a context command? Is
>>>> there any way at all of knowing if the option did anything (even by
>>>> examining the log?)
>>> No, this is not possible and even such a feature would increase
>>> the compile time a lot, e.g. I used list with valid names in a earlier
>>> version of my letter module and it was 30% slower than the current
>>> version and now imagine what happens if you check each key in a
>>> assignment list.
>>
>> OK. It seems strange (coming from a programming background). 
>>
>> If it is only the compile time, then a command line switch might be an
>> option. (But it sounds like it is inherently hard to do, now).
>
> i can probably implement some kind of checking (runtime switch, or
> maybe even switch at format generation time) but i will do so only
> when i've completely split of the mkiv code

Hi Hans,

I really don't want to create work if you think it is not
worthwhile. But - as a non-texpert - I do think it is a problem.

It is compounded by:

- Many command options are not documented, so one experiments a lot

- Excess whitespace not only invalidates options, it does so
  silently. The combination is *very* unexpected, and I don't think it
  is that well known. At any rate I used context for 5 years without
  realising something pretty fundamental! (Is it even mentioned in the
  manual?)

  Anyway, the option then has no effect, so one tries a few more...

Thanks,

-- 

John Devereux
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