[gmx-users] making maxwarn a hidden option

[chris.neale at utoronto.ca]

Sounds great to me. Thanks Justin.

-- original message --

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It seems that my little comment has generated quite the controversy :)

I think the root problem boils down to a lack of documentation of this  
feature.
   For most routine use, -maxwarn should not be used, similar to -missing with
pdb2gmx.  It is your last safeguard when fatal errors occur, but if it is
implied that using it is somehow routine or convenient, then we begin to
undermine the use of all those informative notes and warnings that  
grompp prints.

Looking through the grompp help description, there is no mention of this
feature, and the one-line description is somewhat vague.  Perhaps the best
solution is simply to add some documentation, in addition to the wiki entry I
created.

The description of this flag is currently "Number of allowed warnings during
input processing."  Perhaps it should say something like "Number of allowed
warnings during input processing. Not for normal use and may generate unstable
systems."  I would also think that a description should be added to the grompp
-h text, like:

"The -maxwarn option can be used to override warnings printed by grompp that
otherwise halt output.  In some cases, warnings are harmless, but usually are
not.  The user is advised to carefully interpret the output messages before
attempting to bypass them with this option."

If that sounds agreeable, I'll put in an enhancement request.

-Justin