json output format should NOT output progress

[LarsKumbier]

hcloud server request-console <server> -o json now outputs not only json, but also the progress on the STDERR channel:

$ hcloud server request-console <server> -o json
1.1s [===================================] 100.00%
{
  "wss_url": "wss://web-console.hetzner.cloud/?server_id=<server_id>\u0026token=<token>",
  "password": "<password>"
}

If json is requested, only json should be in the output. Maybe add an optional --progress, if that feature should still be present.

Issue was introduced with hcloud v1.41.
last known good is hcloud v1.40.

[phm07]

This is intentional. Because the progress is printed to stderr, you can handle it separately. For example, this is how you would hide it entirely:

server request-console <server> -o json 2>/dev/null

I don't think an extra flag for that would make sense.

[jooola]

I think it's worth adding some details about what is printed to stdout and stderr to the documentation/help page/manpage.

[itg-dave]

This is intentional. Because the progress is printed in stderr, you can handle it separately. For example, this is how you would hide it entirely:

server request-console -o json 2>/dev/null

I don't think an extra flag for that would make sense.

This doesn't make sense IMHO. If you provide JSON output, the output should be valid JSON and nothing else (p.e. kubectl -o yaml). This is not the usual way to provide this kind of feature. This breaks tools like jq which normally would be piped without the need to redirect stderr to /dev/null...

I can only speak for myself but this is the first application where I am forced to do it this way.

[LarsKumbier]

This is intentional. Because the progress is printed in stderr, you can handle it separately. For example, this is how you would hide it entirely:

That's how I solved it for now, but I also never saw a solution like that.
I'd rather see a commandline flag instead.

[itg-dave]

This is intentional. Because the progress is printed in stderr, you can handle it separately. For example, this is how you would hide it entirely:
server request-console -o json 2>/dev/null
I don't think an extra flag for that would make sense.

This doesn't make sense IMHO. If you provide JSON output, the output should be valid JSON and nothing else (p.e. kubectl -o yaml). This is not the usual way to provide this kind of feature. This breaks tools like jq which normally would be piped without the need to redirect stderr to /dev/null...

I can only speak for myself but this is the first application where I am forced to do it this way.

Another solution could be a quiet-flag (like curl -s). If this is passed, we can ensure, that script-friendly output is generated.

[phm07]

This is intentional. Because the progress is printed in stderr, you can handle it separately. For example, this is how you would hide it entirely:
server request-console -o json 2>/dev/null
I don't think an extra flag for that would make sense.

This doesn't make sense IMHO. If you provide JSON output, the output should be valid JSON and nothing else (p.e. kubectl -o yaml). This is not the usual way to provide this kind of feature. This breaks tools like jq which normally would be piped without the need to redirect stderr to /dev/null...

I can only speak for myself but this is the first application where I am forced to do it this way.

It doesn't break jq. A pipe only forwards stdout by default, we considered that when we made the change.
Only problem I see so far is that you can't distinguish errors (which are printed to stderr too) from the progress bar output. So I think a --quiet (opt-out) or --progress (opt-in) could be useful indeed.

[LarsKumbier]

You're completely right; turns out it was a completely separate issue. Should I leave the issue open as a feature request nonetheless?

[itg-dave]

It doesn't break jq. A pipe only forwards stdout by default, we considered that when we made the change. Only problem I see so far is that you can't distinguish errors (which are printed to stderr too) from the progress bar output. So I think a --quiet (opt-out) or --progress (opt-in) could be useful indeed.

Thanks for the clarification, i corrected my comment above. And thank you for considering this!

[phm07]

Yes, I think the concern that you can't (easily) get error messages while ignoring stderr is still valid, so a --quiet flag is still useful IMO. Thanks for bringing this up for discussion 🙂

[Srakbi]

hcloud server request-console <server> -o json now outputs not only json, but also the progress on the STDERR channel:

$ hcloud server request-console <server> -o json
1.1s [===================================] 100.00%
{
  "wss_url": "wss://web-console.hetzner.cloud/?server_id=<server_id>\u0026token=<token>",
  "password": "<password>"
}

If json is requested, only json should be in the output. Maybe add an optional --progress, if that feature should still be present.

Issue was introduced with hcloud v1.41.
last known good is hcloud v1.40.

Close _ # 644

[Srakbi]

I'm sorry 😞