---
title: "Resolution 021"
---

- Topic: Budget XXX: Flag handling in Abra
- Date: ...
- Deadline: ...
- Size: Medium

### Summary

Motivated by the collective release planning: [`#583`](https://git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/organising/issues/583) under "Argument Handling".

Due to a bug in the underlying library (`urfave/cli`) that Abra uses for command-line argument/flag handling, we have a bug in Abra which cannot be fixed without causing a breaking change. See [`#581`](https://git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/organising/issues/581) for the ongoing discussion. This proposal is the TLDR; and proposal for the fix.

### Details (Budget XXX)

#### The problem

The current help output of `abra app deploy` is as follows:

`abra app deploy [command options] <domain> [<version>]`

However, it is possible to do both of the following:

```
abra app deploy --chaos example.org  # "before" style
abra app deploy example.org --chaos  # "after" style
```

However, `abra app cmd` is broken if you try to use the "after" style:

```
abra app cmd <domain> <function> --local -- <args>
```

This results in `FATA[0000] <recipe> doesn't have a --local function` which is a bug in the `abra` code. It tries to read the position of the arguments but `--local` is included as an argument. The bug in `abra` is due to a bug in `urfave/cli` - "after" style options appear as arguments 😱

The only way to use `abra app cmd` right now is using the "before" style:

```
abra app cmd  --local <domain> <function> -- <args>
```

This means that some commands allow both "after" and "before" style and some only allow "before" style. This is a source of confusion, raised issues and frustration.

#### Our solution

We propose to remedy this situation by upgrading `urfave/cli` to version 2 which enforces the "before" style. This was the solution from `urfave/cli` developers to fix their bug. You can then only do e.g.

```
abra app deploy --chaos <domain>
```

This is the "simplest" option in terms of development capacity and is the most cost effective option. The upgrade effort is more or less a known quantity, see [`#404`](https://git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/abra/pulls/404) for more.

We have previously reverted from version 2 to version to 1 to maintain this flexibility. However, this leaves us with an unresolved bug which we want to close off.

#### Alternatives

If this restriction is seen as too burdensome, we see some alternatives.

If you choose to vote against this proposal, please include your preference for an alternative (below or with your own). This allows us to mount another proposal with minimal effort.

There is no guarantee we can get these right and it will incur an ongoing maintenance cost.

1. we make a special case hack in the case of the `--local` handling and proceed as usual
1. we upgrade to v2 and include a patch which automatically re-orders "after" style options into the "before" style transparently

#### Budget

Compensate `@p4u1` for 4 hours work to get this done. This includes 1 hour
backpay for the initial spike in
[`#404`](https://git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/abra/pulls/404).