This command:

python setup.py --verbose darcsver

works as expected -- the presence of '--verbose' increases the verbosity
of logging.

This command:

python setup.py darcsver --verbose

does not increase the verbosity, nor does it tell me that the
"--verbose" option is an option unknown to the "darcsver" command.

This command:

python setup.py darcsver --quux

gives this helpful output:

usage: setup.py [global_opts] cmd1 [cmd1_opts] [cmd2 [cmd2_opts] ...]
or: setup.py --help [cmd1 cmd2 ...] or: setup.py --help-commands or:
setup.py cmd --help

error: option --quux not recognized

I think that the middle command ("python setup.py darcsver --verbose")
ought to behave either like the first command by increasing the
verbosity, or like the last command by telling the user that "--verbose"
is not a known option in that position.

This is also http://bitbucket.org/tarek/distribute/issue/78/