Findings from a read-through of main at bd431f4, with each item reproduced locally against awk 5.x, python 3.13, and youplot 0.5.0.
1. No default awk program, so stdin-only invocation is impossible (examples/demo.sh is broken)
build_awk_cmd requires a positional awk program whenever -f is absent (awkplot_cli.py:116). That makes the plain "pipe something in and plot it" form fail:
$ awk 'BEGIN{srand(42);for(i=1;i<=200;i++)print int(rand()*50)}' | awkplot -p hist -t "test"
awkplot: awk program required as first positional argument
hint: awkplot [opts] 'awk program' [file ...]Steps 1–4 of examples/demo.sh all use exactly this form, so the demo dies on the first plot under set -euo pipefail:
$ bash examples/demo.sh
=== 1. Histogram of random integers ===
awkplot: awk program required as first positional argument
Suggested fix: when no program and no -f are given, default the program to {print}. The error should only fire when there is no program and stdin is a TTY (nothing to read). As a bonus this makes awkplot a drop-in replacement for bare uplot.
2. Flags placed after the awk program are silently swallowed
args uses nargs=argparse.REMAINDER (awkplot_cli.py:73), which captures every remaining token including things that look like awkplot flags. They are then appended to the awk command as input files:
$ awkplot --dry-run '{print $1}' d.csv -p bar -t hi
awk '{print $1}' d.csv -p bar -t hi | uplot hist-p bar and -t hi are ignored, the plot silently comes out as a hist, and awk is handed -p, bar, -t, hi as filenames. No warning is printed and the exit code is 0.
Suggested fix: switch to parse_known_args with manual program/file splitting, or at minimum error out when a leftover positional starts with - and is not an existing file. Silent wrong output is worse than a hard failure here.
3. No tests and no CI
There is no test suite and no workflow. Both bugs above are trivially detectable from --dry-run, which already returns a deterministic string:
4. LICENSE file is missing
pyproject.toml:11 declares license = { text = "MIT" }, but there is no LICENSE file in the tree. Reuse terms are ambiguous without it.
5. uplot's raw errors leak to the user
Empty awk output produces a Ruby backtrace rather than an awkplot-level message:
$ printf '' | awkplot -p hist '{print $1}'
Failed to parse the text.
/…/gems/youplot-0.5.0/lib/youplot/dsv.rb:13:in `parse'Detecting empty upstream output and printing something like awkplot: awk produced no output would be friendlier. Exit codes themselves are correct (awk syntax error → 2, empty input → 1).
Smaller follow-ups
- No uplot passthrough. Users are limited to the six mapped flags with no escape hatch for the rest of uplot's options. A
--uplot-args or a -- separator would help.
- No
--version flag, despite a version in pyproject.toml.
- Packaging.
py-modules = ["awkplot_cli"] installs a bare top-level awkplot_cli module into site-packages; a proper package directory would avoid the namespace collision risk.
- Installer tracks
main. install.sh defaults AWKPLOT_REF=main, so curl | bash installs whatever HEAD happens to be. Pinning to a released tag would make installs reproducible.
Findings from a read-through of
mainat bd431f4, with each item reproduced locally againstawk 5.x,python 3.13, andyouplot 0.5.0.1. No default awk program, so stdin-only invocation is impossible (
examples/demo.shis broken)build_awk_cmdrequires a positional awk program whenever-fis absent (awkplot_cli.py:116). That makes the plain "pipe something in and plot it" form fail:Steps 1–4 of
examples/demo.shall use exactly this form, so the demo dies on the first plot underset -euo pipefail:Suggested fix: when no program and no
-fare given, default the program to{print}. The error should only fire when there is no program and stdin is a TTY (nothing to read). As a bonus this makesawkplota drop-in replacement for bareuplot.2. Flags placed after the awk program are silently swallowed
argsusesnargs=argparse.REMAINDER(awkplot_cli.py:73), which captures every remaining token including things that look like awkplot flags. They are then appended to the awk command as input files:-p barand-t hiare ignored, the plot silently comes out as ahist, and awk is handed-p,bar,-t,hias filenames. No warning is printed and the exit code is 0.Suggested fix: switch to
parse_known_argswith manual program/file splitting, or at minimum error out when a leftover positional starts with-and is not an existing file. Silent wrong output is worse than a hard failure here.3. No tests and no CI
There is no test suite and no workflow. Both bugs above are trivially detectable from
--dry-run, which already returns a deterministic string:build_awk_cmd,build_uplot_cmd, andparse_sizebash examples/demo.shas a smoke test, which would have caught Broken demo, silent flag swallowing, and missing test/CI/license infrastructure #1 directly4.
LICENSEfile is missingpyproject.toml:11declareslicense = { text = "MIT" }, but there is noLICENSEfile in the tree. Reuse terms are ambiguous without it.5. uplot's raw errors leak to the user
Empty awk output produces a Ruby backtrace rather than an awkplot-level message:
Detecting empty upstream output and printing something like
awkplot: awk produced no outputwould be friendlier. Exit codes themselves are correct (awk syntax error → 2, empty input → 1).Smaller follow-ups
--uplot-argsor a--separator would help.--versionflag, despite a version inpyproject.toml.py-modules = ["awkplot_cli"]installs a bare top-levelawkplot_climodule into site-packages; a proper package directory would avoid the namespace collision risk.main.install.shdefaultsAWKPLOT_REF=main, socurl | bashinstalls whatever HEAD happens to be. Pinning to a released tag would make installs reproducible.