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Clarifying documentation of advanced command-line options


From: Paul Morris
Subject: Clarifying documentation of advanced command-line options
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:12:33 -0500

Here is a suggestion for clarifying the documentation of advanced command-line 
options, from a command-line beginner.

http://www.lilypond.org/doc/v2.16/Documentation/usage/command_002dline-usage#advanced-command-line-options-for-lilypond

I wanted to try SVG output, and after reading that page I was trying to use:

  lilypond -dbackend='svg

When the correct command is:

  lilypond -dbackend=svg

(I had to search and come across an old mailing list post to figure it out.)

It seems that the documentation should not show the single quote since you do 
not need it (and if you do include it things fail in rather baffling ways).  
Why not just show \svg\ rather than \'svg\ ?

This was particularly confusing because in the example given of 

  -dpoint-and-click=#f

you use exactly #f as it is shown in the table of options, which suggests that 
you would need to use exactly 'svg rather than svg.

So another suggestion is to show an example with the full text command that you 
would enter, like "lilypond -dbackend=svg"  (or at least "-dbackend=svg")

Overall, I think these kinds of examples would help the command-line 
documentation in general.  It's much easier for a beginner like myself to see 
an example of what to do than to try and decipher things like the following 
without one:

  lilypond [option]… file…

  -d[option-name]=[value],--define-default=[option-name]=[value]

Thanks for considering these.  I imagine I am not the only one making a first 
foray into the command-line with LilyPond, and these kinds of clarifications 
should help us out.

-Paul




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