[GH-ISSUE #108] [Bug Report] argparse: cannot use positional argument in mutually exclusive group #94

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opened 2026-02-27 04:57:30 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-27 04:57:30 +03:00

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Originally created by @damanjit-singh on GitHub (Nov 3, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/Googolplexed0/zotify/issues/108

Originally assigned to: @Googolplexed0 on GitHub.

Zotify Version
v0.10.24

Bug Description
I am running efficient-api branch version and my Python version is 3.11.11 on Oracle Linux Server 9.4. Running zotify gives this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/opc/.local/bin/zotify", line 7, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ^^^^^^
  File "/home/opc/.local/share/pipx/venvs/zotify/lib64/python3.11/site-packages/zotify/__main__.py", line 79, in main
    group.add_argument('urls',
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.11/argparse.py", line 1473, in add_argument
    return self._add_action(action)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.11/argparse.py", line 1702, in _add_action
    raise ValueError(msg)
ValueError: mutually exclusive arguments must be optional

Bug Triggering Command
zotify

Originally created by @damanjit-singh on GitHub (Nov 3, 2025). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/Googolplexed0/zotify/issues/108 Originally assigned to: @Googolplexed0 on GitHub. **Zotify Version** v0.10.24 **Bug Description** I am running efficient-api branch version and my Python version is 3.11.11 on Oracle Linux Server 9.4. Running zotify gives this: ``` Traceback (most recent call last): File "/home/opc/.local/bin/zotify", line 7, in <module> sys.exit(main()) ^^^^^^ File "/home/opc/.local/share/pipx/venvs/zotify/lib64/python3.11/site-packages/zotify/__main__.py", line 79, in main group.add_argument('urls', File "/usr/lib64/python3.11/argparse.py", line 1473, in add_argument return self._add_action(action) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib64/python3.11/argparse.py", line 1702, in _add_action raise ValueError(msg) ValueError: mutually exclusive arguments must be optional ``` **Bug Triggering Command** zotify

kerem

2026-02-27 04:57:30 +03:00

closed this issue
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kerem commented

2026-02-27 04:57:30 +03:00

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@damanjit-singh commented on GitHub (Nov 3, 2025):

Looks like the solution is to replace:

group.add_argument('urls')

with:

group.add_argument('--urls') in main.py

@damanjit-singh commented on GitHub (Nov 3, 2025): Looks like the solution is to replace: `group.add_argument('urls')` with: `group.add_argument('--urls')` in __main__.py

kerem commented

2026-02-27 04:57:30 +03:00

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@Googolplexed0 commented on GitHub (Nov 4, 2025):

group.add_argument('--urls')

While this change does solve the error, it changes url into an argument that must be explicitly specified. This goes against the preferred usage, where a commands may be as simple as zotify <url>, with no --url argument in-between. I think I found an alternate fix.

@Googolplexed0 commented on GitHub (Nov 4, 2025): > group.add_argument('--urls') While this change does solve the error, it changes `url` into an argument that must be explicitly specified. This goes against the preferred usage, where a commands may be as simple as `zotify <url>`, with no `--url` argument in-between. I think I found an alternate fix.