Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
[improve][pip] PIP-343: Use picocli instead of jcommander (apache#22181)
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
Signed-off-by: Zixuan Liu <nodeces@gmail.com>
  • Loading branch information
nodece authored and hanmz committed Feb 12, 2025
1 parent dec2697 commit 6ee1c54
Showing 1 changed file with 143 additions and 0 deletions.
143 changes: 143 additions & 0 deletions pip/pip-343.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
# PIP-343: Use picocli instead of jcommander

# Motivation

We use the [jcommander](https://github.com/cbeust/jcommander) to build the CLI tool, which is a good library, and is
stable, but it misses modern CLI features likes autocompletion, flag/command suggestion, native image, etc.

These features are very important because there are many commands in the CLI, but the jcommander doesn't give friendly
hints when we use incorrect flags/commands, which makes the user experience not very friendly.

In modern times, the [picocli](https://github.com/remkop/picocli) supports these features, which is a popular library.

The following is some comparison between jcommander and picocli:

- Error prompt:
```
bin/pulsar-admin clusters update cluster-a -b
# jcommander
Need to provide just 1 parameter
# picocli
Unknown option: '-b'
```

- Command suggestion:
```
bin/pulsar-admin cluste
# jcommander
Expected a command, got cluste
# picocli
Unmatched argument at index 0: 'cluste'
Did you mean: pulsar-admin clusters?
```

# Goals

## In Scope

Use the picocli instead of the jcommander in our CLI tool:

- bin/pulsar
- bin/pulsar-admin
- bin/pulsar-client
- bin/pulsar-shell
- bin/pulsar-perf

I'm sure this will greatly improve the user experience, and in the future we can also consider using native images to
reduce runtime, and improve the CLI document based on picocli.

## Out Scope

This PR simply replaces jcommander and does not introduce any enhancements.

In the CLI, [autocomplete](https://picocli.info/autocomplete.html) is an important feature, and after this PIP is
complete I will make a new PIP to support this feature.

# Detailed Design

## Design & Implementation Details

The jcommander and picocli have similar APIs, this will make the migration task very simple.

This is [utility argument syntax](https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap12.html):

```
utility_name[-a][-b][-c option_argument]
[-d|-e][-f[option_argument]][operand...]
```

1. Use `@Command` instead of `@Parameters` to define the class as a command:

```java
@Command(name = "my-command", description = "Operations on persistent topics")
public class MyCommand {

}
```

2. Use `@Option` instead of `@Parameter` to defined the option of command:

```java
@Option(names = {"-r", "--role"})
private String role;
```

3. Use `@Parameters` to get the operand of command:

```java
@Parameters(description = "persistent://tenant/namespace/topic", arity = "1")
private String topicName;
```

4. Migrate jcommander converter to picocli converter:

```java
public class TimeUnitToMillisConverter implements ITypeConverter<Long> {
@Override
public Long convert(String value) throws Exception {
return TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(RelativeTimeUtil.parseRelativeTimeInSeconds(value));
}
}
```

5. Add the picocli entrypoint:

```java
@Command
public class MyCommand implements Callable<Integer> {
// Picocli entrypoint.
@Override
public Integer call() throws Exception {
// TODO
// run();
return 0;
}
}
```

The above is a common migration approach, and then we need to consider pulsar-shell and custom command separately.

- pulsar-shell

This is an interactive shell based on jline3 and jcommander, which includes pulsar-admin and pulsar-client commands.
The jcommander does not provide autocompletion because we have implemented it ourselves. In picocli, they
have [picocli-shell-jline3](https://github.com/remkop/picocli/blob/main/picocli-shell-jline3) to help us quickly build
the interactive shell.

- custom command:

This is an extension of pulsar-admin, and the plugin's implementation does not depend on jcommander. Since the bridge
is used, we only need to change the generator code based on picocli.

# Backward & Forward Compatibility

Fully compatible.

# Links

* Mailing List discussion thread: https://lists.apache.org/thread/ydg1q064cd11pxwz693frtk4by74q32f
* Mailing List voting thread: https://lists.apache.org/thread/1bpsr6tkgm00bb66dt2s74r15o4b37s3

0 comments on commit 6ee1c54

Please # to comment.