On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 03:27:29PM +0000, R. David Murray wrote:
[...]
> getopt is explicitly emulating the C getopt

There are lots of differences between the C getopt and the Python 
version, and the Python version is described as offering an API 
"designed to be familiar" to uses of the C version, not to emulate all 
the idiosyncrasies of the C version. For instance, the Python version 
raises an exception on errors, rather than returning -1; the C version 
requires argc ("argument count"), but the Python version doesn't.

But most critically, the C version DOES strip whitespace from long 
arguments. On my Centos box, it only strips *trailing* spaces, not 
leading spaces, but it does strip them. So if your argument is that we 
must do what the C getopt does, then we must likewise at least strip 
trailing spaces.

Attached is a demo, adapted from the code given by `man 3 getopt`.

[steve@ando ~]$ gcc getopdemo.c
[steve@ando ~]$ ./a.out "--  spam" 1 --eggs 2 "--  cheese" 3
option   spam   with arg 1
option eggs   with arg 2
option   cheese with arg 3

If Serhiy is going to insist that getopt.py must follow the C getopt 
precisely, then the failure to strip trailing spaces is certainly a bug.