[bug report] --tui should not be silently ignored

[bug report] --tui should not be silently ignored

[xaizek]

Hello,

(Mind that I'm not subscribed to the list.)

If slang isn't available during compilation time, there is a warning at
build time.  However, users won't see it and will scratch their heads
when `--tui` has no effect as I did 5 years ago and just found out that
it still behaves the same (yes, I didn't report it then).

Please print a warning that `--tui` is being ignored if perf was
compiled without slang or even make it an error (e.g., don't define the
option), but don't silently ignore the option.  I had to use strace and
then grep sources to understand why TUI doesn't work.  Documentation might
also need an update to mention that availability of `--tui` depends on
whether slang was found during build.

Regards,
xaizek

Re: [bug report] --tui should not be silently ignored

[Ian Rogers]

On Sat, Jan 22, 2022 at 2:19 AM xaizek <xaizek@posteo.net> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> (Mind that I'm not subscribed to the list.)
>
> If slang isn't available during compilation time, there is a warning at
> build time.  However, users won't see it and will scratch their heads
> when `--tui` has no effect as I did 5 years ago and just found out that
> it still behaves the same (yes, I didn't report it then).
>
> Please print a warning that `--tui` is being ignored if perf was
> compiled without slang or even make it an error (e.g., don't define the
> option), but don't silently ignore the option.  I had to use strace and
> then grep sources to understand why TUI doesn't work.  Documentation might
> also need an update to mention that availability of `--tui` depends on
> whether slang was found during build.

Thanks for reporting this. The patch:
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220123191849.3655855-1-irogers@google.com/
at least addresses the command line option part of the problem.
Consider trying the patches and supplying a Tested-by :-)

Thanks,
Ian

> Regards,
> xaizek