[GHC] #10951: HPC program has poor error reporting / strange CLI in general

[GHC]

#10951: HPC program has poor error reporting / strange CLI in general
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        Reporter:  mgsloan           |                Owner:
            Type:  bug               |               Status:  new
        Priority:  low               |            Milestone:
       Component:  Code Coverage     |              Version:  7.10.2
      Resolution:                    |             Keywords:
Operating System:  Unknown/Multiple  |         Architecture:
                                     |  Unknown/Multiple
 Type of failure:  None/Unknown      |            Test Case:
      Blocked By:                    |             Blocking:
 Related Tickets:                    |  Differential Rev(s):
       Wiki Page:                    |
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Changes (by thomie):

 * cc: andygill@… (added)


Comment:

 1. yes

 2. is it worth breaking backward compatibility here, after 1. is fixed?
 Maybe there are scripts in existence that make use of positional
 arguments.

 3. seems like a less pressing need, but why not. This effectively folds
 `hpc combine` into `hpc report` and `hpc markup`, using a new `--tixfile`
 or so flag. Might be difficult to explain why `hpc sum` and `hpc combine`
 still exist after this.

 4. maybe not needed anymore, now that `-hpcdir` takes absolute paths, but
 why not.

 5. should be fixed, but please make changes as you see fit.

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/10951#comment:5>
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