Greg was having some problems with SP2 for Windows XP yesterday (he’s beta testing) and had to reinstall. He decided to do the installation in an unattended fashion and used the command line option “/passive” to accomplish that. I started thinking about that particular command line option and how it’s almost like a clinical diagnosis of the behavior of the installer rather than a technical option and then decided that in future programs I need to follow that same standard. As such, here are some command line options I’m contemplating for programs I write in the future:

/passiveagressive: Install unattended and force overwrite of any old file versions without asking.

/obsessivecompulsive: Verify all data written… twice.

/histrionic: Confirms every disk I/O operation.

/masochistic: Deletes any trace of itself on uninstall.

/sadistic: Deletes all user data. Display delete notification message after operation completes.

/dependent: Only installs if you’re installing other, related products at the same time.

/paranoid: Require authentication prior to performing any action.

/avoidant: Run in “standalone” mode; ensure no communication between itself and other programs.

/antisocial: Allow incoming communication with other programs but never send outgoing/response messages.

/schizoid: Display terse messages.

/schizotypal: Display all messages like standard Windows messages, particularly with regard to errors. Refer user to incomplete or nonexistant documentation if they want more information.

/narcissistic: Set process priority to highest possible setting.

/cyclothymic: Simulate unreproducible, periodic errors to test system fault tolerance.