Wrong flags in Usage helper text

[eduardohki]

I was trying to manually run wmi_exproter.exe with custom options, because I wanted the port to listen at 9100 (like node_exporter).

However, the flag listed in the command-line usage wasn't working, issuing the error flag provided but not defined: -addr:

PS C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter> .\wmi_exporter.exe -addr ":9100"
flag provided but not defined: -addr
Usage of C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter\wmi_exporter.exe:
  -collector.iis.app-blacklist string
        Regexp of apps to blacklist. App name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.iis.app-whitelist string
        Regexp of apps to whitelist. App name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (default
 ".+")
  -collector.iis.site-blacklist string
        Regexp of sites to blacklist. Site name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.iis.site-whitelist string
        Regexp of sites to whitelist. Site name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (defau
lt ".+")
  -collector.logical_disk.volume-blacklist string
        Regexp of volumes to blacklist. Volume name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.logical_disk.volume-whitelist string
        Regexp of volumes to whitelist. Volume name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (d
efault ".+")
  -collector.net.nic-blacklist string
        Regexp of NIC:s to blacklist. NIC name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.net.nic-whitelist string
        Regexp of NIC:s to whitelist. NIC name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (defaul
t ".+")
  -collectors.enabled string
        Comma-separated list of collectors to use. Use '[default]' as a placeholder for all the collectors enabled by de
fault (default "cpu,cs,logical_disk,net,os,service,system")
  -collectors.print
        If true, print available collectors and exit.
  -log.format value
        Set the log target and format. Example: "logger:syslog?appname=bob&local=7" or "logger:stdout?json=true" (defaul
t "logger:stderr")
  -log.level value
        Only log messages with the given severity or above. Valid levels: [debug, info, warn, error, fatal] (default "in
fo")
  -telemetry.addr string
        host:port for WMI exporter. (default ":9182")
  -telemetry.path string
        URL path for surfacing collected metrics. (default "/metrics")
  -version
        Print version information.

So I found out that it needed to use two hyphens (--addr ":9100") instead of one (-addr ":9100"), for every option.

So I think a fix is needed in the Usage text.

[carlpett]

Hm, no, the flag is not -addr, but -telemetry.addr. I'm surprised --addr would work, did it actually start listening on that port, or was the flag ignored?

There is a problem with using dots in flags when executing from Powershell, though, which is unfortunate. It stops parsing at the dot, so you need to do "-telemetry.addr" ":9100" if starting from Powershell.

[carlpett]

On testing on my system, I cannot get --addr to be accepted. What version are you using?

[eduardohki]

Sorry, I inserted the wrong text here (I tested a lot of options).

here is the correct one (-telemetry.addr):

PS C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter> .\wmi_exporter.exe -telemetry.addr ":9100"
flag provided but not defined: -telemetry
Usage of C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter\wmi_exporter.exe:
  -collector.iis.app-blacklist string
        Regexp of apps to blacklist. App name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.iis.app-whitelist string
        Regexp of apps to whitelist. App name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (default ".+")
  -collector.iis.site-blacklist string
        Regexp of sites to blacklist. Site name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.iis.site-whitelist string
        Regexp of sites to whitelist. Site name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (default ".+")
  -collector.logical_disk.volume-blacklist string
        Regexp of volumes to blacklist. Volume name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.logical_disk.volume-whitelist string
        Regexp of volumes to whitelist. Volume name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (default ".+")
  -collector.net.nic-blacklist string
        Regexp of NIC:s to blacklist. NIC name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included.
  -collector.net.nic-whitelist string
        Regexp of NIC:s to whitelist. NIC name must both match whitelist and not match blacklist to be included. (default ".+")
  -collectors.enabled string
        Comma-separated list of collectors to use. Use '[default]' as a placeholder for all the collectors enabled by default (default "cpu,cs,logical_disk,net,os,service,system")
  -collectors.print
        If true, print available collectors and exit.
  -log.format value
        Set the log target and format. Example: "logger:syslog?appname=bob&local=7" or "logger:stdout?json=true" (default "logger:stderr")
  -log.level value
        Only log messages with the given severity or above. Valid levels: [debug, info, warn, error, fatal] (default "info")
  -telemetry.addr string
        host:port for WMI exporter. (default ":9182")
  -telemetry.path string
        URL path for surfacing collected metrics. (default "/metrics")
  -version
        Print version information.

Using --telemetry.addr it works:

PS C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter>
PS C:\Program Files\wmi_exporter> .\wmi_exporter.exe --telemetry.addr ":9100"
time="2017-07-06T20:37:40Z" level=info msg="Enabled collectors: logical_disk, net, os, service, system, cpu, cs" source="exporter.go:191"
time="2017-07-06T20:37:41Z" level=info msg="Starting WMI exporter (version=0.2.5, branch=master, revision=175c54acf13aee43592120ad0567257f01684dc1)" source="exporter.go:202"
time="2017-07-06T20:37:41Z" level=info msg="Build context (go=go1.8, user=appvyr-win\\appveyor@APPVYR-WIN, date=20170627-07:30:21)" source="exporter.go:203"
time="2017-07-06T20:37:41Z" level=info msg="Starting server on :9100" source="exporter.go:206"

[eduardohki]

Well, I think that the problem with using dots in flags when executing from Powershell should be at least described in the Usage text, it would prevent a lot of trouble IMO.

Thanks!

[carlpett]

I've considered if we should actually just change the flags. The current ones were initially copied from node_exporter, but the gains from having a similar pattern are probably quite small.

It should be noted that this is only a problem in powershell, though. No other command line parser in Windows is affected.

[eduardohki]

hello @carlpett

I confirmed the problem with powershell.

IMO this PowerShell "problem" could be stated in the Usage text as a warning to the user.

Thanks!

[martinlindhe]

I agree with @carlpett we could simply change the flags to get rid of this issue.