Run arguments do not get passed to node executable

When attempting to pass command line arguments to a node using the ros2 run [pkg] [exec] syntax, the arguments get processed by the ros2 executable rather than the node executable being launched.

Example:

$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --help
usage: ros2 run [-h] package_name executable_name [argv [argv ...]]

Run a package specific executable

positional arguments:
  package_name     Name of the ROS package
  executable_name  Name of the executable
  argv             Pass arbitrary arguments to the executable (use '--' before
                   these arguments to ensure they are not handle by this
                   command)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit

Expected output:

$ ./install/lib/ros1_bridge/dynamic_bridge --help
Usage:
 -h, --help: This message.
 --show-introspection: Print output of introspection of both sides of the bridge.
 --print-pairs: Print a list of the supported ROS 2 <=> ROS 1 conversion pairs.
 --bridge-all-topics: Bridge all topics in both directions, whether or not there is a matching subscriber.
 --bridge-all-1to2-topics: Bridge all ROS 1 topics to ROS 2, whether or not there is a matching subscriber.
 --bridge-all-2to1-topics: Bridge all ROS 2 topics to ROS 1, whether or not there is a matching subscriber.

Although I’m sure you get the picture, here’s another example:

$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge --bridge-all-topics
usage: ros2 [-h] Call `ros2 <command> -h` for more detailed usage. ...
ros2: error: unrecognized arguments: --bridge-all-topics

Add one passing just a flag:

$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge -f
usage: ros2 [-h] Call `ros2 <command> -h` for more detailed usage. ...
ros2: error: unrecognized arguments: -f

Arguments that are not prefixed with one or more dashes do allow the node to get executed (although I don’t have evidence at the moment that they successfully get passed to the node).

E.g., (I don’t have a master running, but it runs the bridge)

$ ros2 run ros1_bridge dynamic_bridge this_is_an_argument another arg3
[ERROR] [1499788917.336544285] [/ros_bridge]: [registerPublisher] Failed to contact master at [localhost:11311].  Retrying...

[dhood]

if you’re the third person to run into this or miss the help, then we need to do something different so it’s more obvious or so that it works as people expect it should, avoiding the surprise.

+1. I added a quick mention to the wiki for now (it’s linked to from release notes). https://github.com/ros2/ros2/wiki/Introspection-with-command-line-tools

[wjwwood]

Apologies for not doing a good enough job searching through the issues…or reading the help…

No worries. As I pointed out, if you’re the third person to run into this or miss the help, then we need to do something different so it’s more obvious or so that it works as people expect it should, avoiding the surprise.