Cast optparse verbosity argument to an integer for better backwards compatibility

[Daniel Hahler]

With Django 1.8 and Python 3.4.3, I see the following error:

% manage.py test
...
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/commands/test.py", line 65, in execute
    if options['verbosity'] > 0:
TypeError: unorderable types: str() > int()

It appears to stem from the optparse parser being used (because
BaseCommand.option_list is non-empty (for --pdb and --ipdb)):

parser.add_option('-v', '--verbosity', action='store', dest='verbosity', default='1',
    type='choice', choices=['0', '1', '2', '3'],
    help='Verbosity level; 0=minimal output, 1=normal output, 2=verbose output, 3=very verbose output')

The type "choice" is a subtype of "string" options (​https://docs.python.org/2/library/optparse.html).

It seems like this option whould need to be casted to an int after parsing.

This was added in 85686386 (#19973).

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "…/bin/manage.py", line 37, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 338, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 330, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/commands/test.py", line 30, in run_from_argv
    super(Command, self).run_from_argv(argv)
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/base.py", line 390, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **cmd_options)
  File "…/django18/django/core/management/commands/test.py", line 65, in execute
    if options['verbosity'] > 0:
TypeError: unorderable types: str() > int()

I have not tried it with Django master, because there are several other problems.

In case it has been fixed there already, I'd say that this is something that should get backported.

[Tim Graham]

May be a duplicate of #24518 -- are you using an old version of django-configurations? If not, please tell us how we can reproduce the issue.

[Daniel Hahler]

I am using django-configurations, but from master.

In #24518 django-configurations is the one that adds to BaseCommand.option_list (which triggers the optparse code path).

I'd say it should be reproducible by just using the deprecated parser, usually by providing option_list.
(e.g. for django-pdb: ​https://github.com/tomchristie/django-pdb/blob/master/django_pdb/management/commands/test.py#L16-27)

See ​https://github.com/django/django/pull/4628 for a PR.

I think this issue can be closed as duplicate of #24518 then, which should be re-opened until it's fixed.

[Claude Paroz]

Django core commands are now argparse-based, so setting option_list for those commands should be considered as a bug. Reading the ​code from django-configurations, it appears it does now the right thing. But I may have missed some valid code path which triggers the issue. Maybe with a sample project?

[Daniel Hahler]

The problem in my case is not with django-configurations, but django-pdb.
It just got fixed there for Django 1.8, too: ​https://github.com/tomchristie/django-pdb/commit/90e6bec2d463ba215d75f196d398dc0d4c36dc00.

I can see that casting verbosity to int would be a behaviour change (for the old parser). But when a command isn't using option_list that would happen anyway (because it uses the new parser).

Therefore I still think that it's better for consistency to use int in both cases.

[Tim Graham]

Is there much benefit in fixing this in Django versus having projects switch to argparse as necessary when they add 1.8 compatibility? I'd just like to spend our time most efficiently.

[Claude Paroz]

As for me, this enters the category "We should have made it better, but the train has left the station...".

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In a0047c62:

Fixed #24769 -- Cast optparse verbosity argument to an integer for better backwards compatibility.

Using BaseCommand.options_list makes Django use the legacy optparse
parser, which does not set the verbosity attribute correctly. Now the
verbosity argument is always cast to int. Regression in 8568638 (#19973).

Initial report and patch from blueyed.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 76c526f8:

[1.8.x] Fixed #24769 -- Cast optparse verbosity argument to an integer for better backwards compatibility.

Using BaseCommand.options_list makes Django use the legacy optparse
parser, which does not set the verbosity attribute correctly. Now the
verbosity argument is always cast to int. Regression in 8568638 (#19973).

Initial report and patch from blueyed.

Backport of a0047c6242fd48068eb444e0a58f7a5d2bc1bcd3 from master