Merge lp:~percona-toolkit-dev/percona-toolkit/OptionParser-remove-optional_value into lp:percona-toolkit/2.1

[Brian Fraser]

[Daniel Nichter (daniel-nichter)]

In Pingback.pm:

sub version_check {
   my $args = pop @_;
   my (@instances) = @_;

That should be our standard %args.

      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                   "environment variable.\n\n";

I think those should just be warn "..." (we tend not to use print STDERR for whatever reason).

      $args->{protocol} ||= 'https';
      my @protocols = $args->{protocol} ne 'https' && $args->{protocol} ne 'http'
                    ? qw(https http)
                    : $args->{protocol};

Let's do this earlier, before the eval, and check for 'off'. If 'off', then return. This will need to happen in the future when we switch the default to 'auto'.

Also, make the ?: more clear because right now it reads like "if not https and not http, then use https and http"--huh? (because 'auto', but that's not clear).

Also, --version-check '' on the cmd line isn't handled, so we need to check the --version-check value before $o->usage_or_errors(). To do this, make a MAGIC_version_check_protocols lists and use that so the docs become the actual values we check for (see MAGIC_history_cols in pqd for an example).

While v-c is a manual thing, let's increase,

   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );

to 5 since the user, knowing what v-c does, should be a little more lenient (and eventually they'll get either "No advice" or a warning or something, so they'll know the delay was due to v-c working).

review: Needs Fixing

[lp:~percona-toolkit-dev/percona-toolkit/OptionParser-remove-optional_value]

437. By Brian Fraser on 2012-11-01

Updates per Daniel's review

438. By Brian Fraser on 2012-11-01

Fixed a typo and added some regression tests

[Daniel Nichter (daniel-nichter)]

516for my $exec ( grep { slurp_file($_) =~ /package Pingback;/ }
 517 grep { !/~/ }
 518 glob("$trunk/bin/*")
 519 )

That's good, but let's do it a little more light-weight. Remember, our poor test boxes are already strained. Why not just:

my @vc_tools = map { /(\S+)/ } `grep --files-with-matches Pingback $trunk/bin/*`;
foreach my $tool ( @vc_tools ) {
...

In this error: "--version-check invalud value $value. Accepted values are", double space between the sentence, i.e. \s\s instead of just \s before "Accepted" (blame Baron for encouraging my grammatical zealousness).

Typo in --version-check docs: ""auto" first tries using "https", and resolts to"

review: Needs Fixing

[lp:~percona-toolkit-dev/percona-toolkit/OptionParser-remove-optional_value]

439. By Brian Fraser on 2012-11-06

Fixes per Daniel's review

[Daniel Nichter (daniel-nichter)]

review: Approve

=== modified file 'bin/pt-archiver'
--- bin/pt-archiver	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-archiver	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -328,10 +327,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -467,7 +465,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1008,12 +1006,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4810,14 +4807,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4832,22 +4834,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4873,7 +4881,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -5089,6 +5097,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -5233,6 +5256,8 @@
          $o->save_error("--bulk-delete is meaningless with --limit 1");
       }
 
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
+
    }
 
    if ( $bulk_del || $o->get('bulk-insert') ) {
@@ -5630,11 +5655,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $src->{dbh}, dsn => $src->{dsn} },
-         ( $dst ? { dbh => $dst->{dbh}, dsn => $dst->{dsn} } : () ),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $src->{dbh}, dsn => $src->{dsn} },
+            ( $dst ? { dbh => $dst->{dbh}, dsn => $dst->{dsn} } : () ),
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -7071,14 +7098,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system; for the
-latter case, you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-config-diff'
--- bin/pt-config-diff	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-config-diff	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -327,10 +326,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -466,7 +464,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1007,12 +1005,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -3959,14 +3956,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -3981,22 +3983,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4022,7 +4030,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4238,6 +4246,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4290,6 +4313,7 @@
       if ( @ARGV < 1 ) {
         $o->save_error("Specify at least one file or DSN on the command line");
       }
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
    }
 
    $o->usage_or_errors();
@@ -4364,10 +4388,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh, dsn => $_->dsn } } @cxn),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh, dsn => $_->dsn } } @cxn) ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -4651,14 +4675,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-deadlock-logger'
--- bin/pt-deadlock-logger	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-deadlock-logger	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -325,10 +324,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -464,7 +462,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1005,12 +1003,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -3401,14 +3398,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -3423,22 +3425,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -3464,7 +3472,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -3680,6 +3688,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -3802,6 +3825,8 @@
          $o->save_error("--dest requires a 't' (table) part");
       }
 
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
+      
       # Avoid running forever with zero second interval.
       if ( $o->get('run-time') && !$o->get('interval') ) {
          $o->set('interval', 1);
@@ -3871,11 +3896,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $source_dsn },
-         ($dest_dsn ? { dbh => $dest_dsn, dsn => $dest_dsn } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $source_dsn },
+            ($dest_dsn ? { dbh => $dest_dsn, dsn => $dest_dsn } : ()),
+         ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -4563,14 +4590,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-diskstats'
--- bin/pt-diskstats	2012-10-22 18:17:08 +0000
+++ bin/pt-diskstats	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -327,10 +326,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -466,7 +464,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1007,12 +1005,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4496,14 +4493,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4518,22 +4520,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4559,7 +4567,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4775,6 +4783,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4828,6 +4851,7 @@
       if ( !$o->get('columns-regex') ) {
          $o->save_error("A regex pattern for --column-regex must be specified");
       }
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
    }
 
    $o->usage_or_errors();
@@ -4835,8 +4859,8 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
-      Pingback::version_check({ protocol => $o->get('version-check') });
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+      Pingback::version_check(protocol => $o->get('version-check'));
    }
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -5427,14 +5451,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-duplicate-key-checker'
--- bin/pt-duplicate-key-checker	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-duplicate-key-checker	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -992,7 +992,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -1234,10 +1233,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -1373,7 +1371,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1914,12 +1912,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4326,14 +4323,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4348,22 +4350,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4389,7 +4397,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4605,6 +4613,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4662,7 +4685,8 @@
 
    my $dp = $o->DSNParser();
    $dp->prop('set-vars', $o->get('set-vars'));
-
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -4692,10 +4716,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         {dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn},
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ {dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn} ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -5199,14 +5223,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-fifo-split'
--- bin/pt-fifo-split	2012-10-31 01:14:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-fifo-split	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -299,10 +298,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -438,7 +436,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -979,12 +977,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-find'
--- bin/pt-find	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-find	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -459,7 +459,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -701,10 +700,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -840,7 +838,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1381,12 +1379,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -3166,14 +3163,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -3188,22 +3190,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -3229,7 +3237,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -3445,6 +3453,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -3761,6 +3784,8 @@
       $o->save_error("--server-id regex doesn't capture digits with (\\d+)");
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # Interpolate strings for printf and exec.  At the same time discover whether
@@ -3860,10 +3885,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         {dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn},
-         {protocol => $o->get('version-check')},
+         instances => [{dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn}],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -4316,14 +4341,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-fingerprint'
--- bin/pt-fingerprint	2012-10-22 18:17:08 +0000
+++ bin/pt-fingerprint	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -300,10 +299,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -439,7 +437,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -980,12 +978,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-fk-error-logger'
--- bin/pt-fk-error-logger	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-fk-error-logger	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -324,10 +323,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -463,7 +461,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1004,12 +1002,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -3105,14 +3102,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -3127,22 +3129,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -3168,7 +3176,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -3384,6 +3392,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -3456,6 +3479,8 @@
       if ( $dst_dsn && !$dst_dsn->{t} ) {
          $o->save_error("--dest requires a 't' (table) part");
       }
+
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
    }
 
    $o->usage_or_errors();
@@ -3516,11 +3541,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $src_dsn },
-         ($dst_dbh ? { dbh => $dst_dbh, dsn => $dst_dsn } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $src_dsn },
+            ($dst_dbh ? { dbh => $dst_dbh, dsn => $dst_dsn } : ())
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -3810,14 +3837,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-heartbeat'
--- bin/pt-heartbeat	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-heartbeat	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -818,7 +818,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -1060,10 +1059,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -1199,7 +1197,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1740,12 +1738,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4250,14 +4247,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4272,22 +4274,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4313,7 +4321,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4529,6 +4537,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4630,6 +4653,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid --recursion-method: $EVAL_ERROR")
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -4980,8 +5005,11 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
-      Pingback::version_check({dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn}, { protocol => $o->get('version-check') });
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+      Pingback::version_check(
+         instances => [ {dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn} ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
+      );
    }
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -5713,14 +5741,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-index-usage'
--- bin/pt-index-usage	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-index-usage	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -589,7 +589,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -831,10 +830,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -970,7 +968,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1511,12 +1509,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -5820,14 +5817,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -5842,22 +5844,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -5883,7 +5891,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -6099,6 +6107,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -6168,6 +6191,8 @@
                . "--save-results-database DSN");
          }
       }
+      
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
    }
 
    $o->usage_or_errors();
@@ -6311,11 +6336,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn },
-         ($res_dbh ? { dbh => $res_dbh, dsn => $res_dsn } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn },
+            ($res_dbh ? { dbh => $res_dbh, dsn => $res_dsn } : ())
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -7230,14 +7257,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-kill'
--- bin/pt-kill	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-kill	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -332,10 +331,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -471,7 +469,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1012,12 +1010,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -5843,14 +5840,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -5865,22 +5867,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -5906,7 +5914,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -6122,6 +6130,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -6205,6 +6228,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid value for --victims: $victims");
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -6485,10 +6510,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         ($dbh ? { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $cxn->dsn() } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ ($dbh ? { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $cxn->dsn() } : ()) ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -7219,14 +7244,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-log-player'
--- bin/pt-log-player	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-log-player	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -304,10 +303,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -443,7 +441,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -984,12 +982,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-online-schema-change'
--- bin/pt-online-schema-change	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-online-schema-change	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -96,7 +96,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -338,10 +337,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -477,7 +475,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1018,12 +1016,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -6865,14 +6862,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -6887,22 +6889,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -6928,7 +6936,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -7144,6 +7152,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -7293,6 +7316,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid --recursion-method: $EVAL_ERROR")
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors(); 
 
    if ( $o->get('quiet') ) {
@@ -7546,11 +7571,11 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh(), dsn => $_->dsn() } }
-            $cxn, ($slaves ? @$slaves : ())),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh(), dsn => $_->dsn() } }
+            $cxn, ($slaves ? @$slaves : ())) ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
    
@@ -9881,14 +9906,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-query-advisor'
--- bin/pt-query-advisor	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-query-advisor	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -470,7 +470,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -712,10 +711,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -851,7 +849,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1392,12 +1390,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -7017,14 +7014,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -7039,22 +7041,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -7080,7 +7088,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -7296,6 +7304,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -7373,6 +7396,8 @@
          $o->save_error("Invalid --group-by value.  Valid values are: "
             . "rule_id, query_id, none");
       }
+
+      Pingback::validate_options($o);
    }
 
    $o->usage_or_errors();
@@ -7702,11 +7727,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         ($review_dbh ? { dbh => $review_dbh, dsn => $review_dsn } : ()),
-         ($dbh        ? { dbh => $dbh,        dsn => $dsn        } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check')                  },
+         instances => [
+            ($review_dbh ? { dbh => $review_dbh, dsn => $review_dsn } : ()),
+            ($dbh        ? { dbh => $dbh,        dsn => $dsn        } : ()),
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -8479,14 +8506,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-query-digest'
--- bin/pt-query-digest	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-query-digest	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -608,7 +608,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -850,10 +849,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -989,7 +987,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1530,12 +1528,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -12947,14 +12944,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -12969,22 +12971,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -13010,7 +13018,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -13226,6 +13234,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -13373,6 +13396,8 @@
       $o->save_error($EVAL_ERROR);
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -14583,12 +14608,14 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         ($qv_dbh ? { dbh => $qv_dbh, dsn => $review_dsn } : ()),
-         ($ps_dbh ? { dbh => $ps_dbh, dsn => $ps_dsn     } : ()),
-         ($ex_dbh ? { dbh => $ex_dbh, dsn => $ex_dsn     } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            ($qv_dbh ? { dbh => $qv_dbh, dsn => $review_dsn } : ()),
+            ($ps_dbh ? { dbh => $ps_dbh, dsn => $ps_dsn     } : ()),
+            ($ex_dbh ? { dbh => $ex_dbh, dsn => $ex_dsn     } : ())
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -16974,14 +17001,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-show-grants'
--- bin/pt-show-grants	2012-11-01 09:15:54 +0000
+++ bin/pt-show-grants	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -300,10 +299,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -439,7 +437,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -980,12 +978,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-slave-delay'
--- bin/pt-slave-delay	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-slave-delay	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -325,10 +324,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -464,7 +462,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1005,12 +1003,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -3514,14 +3511,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -3536,22 +3538,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -3577,7 +3585,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -3793,6 +3801,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -3856,6 +3879,8 @@
       $o->set('run-time', max($o->get('run-time'), 1));
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # #######################################################################
@@ -3909,14 +3934,16 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       my $tmp_master_dsn = $master_dsn
                          ? $master_dsn
                          : { h => $status->{master_host}, P => $status->{master_port} };
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $slave_dbh,  dsn => $slave_dsn      },
-         { dbh => $master_dbh, dsn => $tmp_master_dsn },
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check')       },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $slave_dbh,  dsn => $slave_dsn      },
+            { dbh => $master_dbh, dsn => $tmp_master_dsn }
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -4393,14 +4420,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-slave-find'
--- bin/pt-slave-find	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-slave-find	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -304,10 +303,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -443,7 +441,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -984,12 +982,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-slave-restart'
--- bin/pt-slave-restart	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-slave-restart	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -204,7 +204,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -446,10 +445,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -585,7 +583,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1126,12 +1124,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4137,14 +4134,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4159,22 +4161,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4200,7 +4208,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4416,6 +4424,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4491,6 +4514,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid --recursion-method: $EVAL_ERROR")
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -4595,10 +4620,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn }, @servers_to_watch,
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn }, @servers_to_watch ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
    
@@ -5312,14 +5337,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-table-checksum'
--- bin/pt-table-checksum	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-table-checksum	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -1047,14 +1047,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -1069,22 +1074,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -1110,7 +1121,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -1326,6 +1337,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -1756,7 +1782,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -1998,10 +2023,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -2137,7 +2161,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -2678,12 +2702,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -8376,6 +8399,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid --recursion-method: $EVAL_ERROR")
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
  
    # ########################################################################
@@ -8827,11 +8852,13 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         { dbh => $master_dbh, dsn => $master_dsn },
-         map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh(), dsn => $_->dsn() } } @$slaves),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [
+            { dbh => $master_dbh, dsn => $master_dsn },
+            map({ +{ dbh => $_->dbh(), dsn => $_->dsn() } } @$slaves)
+         ],
+         protocol => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -11321,14 +11348,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-table-sync'
--- bin/pt-table-sync	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-table-sync	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -341,10 +340,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -480,7 +478,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1021,12 +1019,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -9242,14 +9239,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -9264,22 +9266,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -9305,7 +9313,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -9521,6 +9529,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -9668,6 +9691,8 @@
       $o->save_error("Invalid --recursion-method: $EVAL_ERROR")
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # ########################################################################
@@ -9778,8 +9803,11 @@
       +{ dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn }
    } @dsns;
 
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
-      Pingback::version_check(@instances, { protocol => $o->get('version-check') });
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+      Pingback::version_check(
+         instances => [@instances],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
+      );
    }
 
    map { $_->disconnect } @vc_dbhs;  # disconnect dbh created for version check
@@ -12291,14 +12319,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-tcp-model'
--- bin/pt-tcp-model	2012-10-22 18:17:08 +0000
+++ bin/pt-tcp-model	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -303,10 +302,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -442,7 +440,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -983,12 +981,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-trend'
--- bin/pt-trend	2012-10-30 23:04:22 +0000
+++ bin/pt-trend	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -303,10 +302,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -442,7 +440,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -983,12 +981,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'bin/pt-upgrade'
--- bin/pt-upgrade	2012-11-05 17:57:11 +0000
+++ bin/pt-upgrade	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -1011,7 +1011,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -1253,10 +1252,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -1392,7 +1390,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1933,12 +1931,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -11314,14 +11311,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -11336,22 +11338,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -11377,7 +11385,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -11593,6 +11601,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -11686,6 +11709,8 @@
       $o->save_error('Specify at least one host DSN');
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    if ( $o->get('explain-hosts') ) {
@@ -11947,10 +11972,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         map({ +{ dbh => $_->{dbh}, dsn => $_->{dsn} } } @$hosts),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ map({ +{ dbh => $_->{dbh}, dsn => $_->{dsn} } } @$hosts) ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -12884,14 +12909,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'bin/pt-variable-advisor'
--- bin/pt-variable-advisor	2012-10-31 09:18:34 +0000
+++ bin/pt-variable-advisor	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -329,10 +328,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -468,7 +466,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1009,12 +1007,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {
@@ -4426,14 +4423,19 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -4448,22 +4450,28 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -4489,7 +4497,7 @@
 
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    my $response = $ua->request('GET', $url);
@@ -4705,6 +4713,21 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }
@@ -4761,6 +4784,8 @@
       }
    }
 
+   Pingback::validate_options($o);
+   
    $o->usage_or_errors();
 
    # #########################################################################
@@ -4835,10 +4860,10 @@
    # ########################################################################
    # Do the version-check
    # ########################################################################
-   if ( $o->got('version-check') && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
+   if ( $o->get('version-check') ne 'off' && (!$o->has('quiet') || !$o->get('quiet')) ) {
       Pingback::version_check(
-         ($dbh ? { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn } : ()),
-         { protocol => $o->get('version-check') },
+         instances => [ ($dbh ? { dbh => $dbh, dsn => $dsn } : ()) ],
+         protocol  => $o->get('version-check'),
       );
    }
 
@@ -5667,14 +5692,20 @@
 
 =item --version-check
 
-type: string; value_is_optional: yes; default: https
+type: string; default: off
 
 Send program versions to Percona and print suggested upgrades and problems.
-
-If specified without a value, it will use https by default; However, this
-might fail if C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, in which
-case you may choose to use C<--version-check http>, which will forgo
-encryption but should work out of the box.
+Possible values for --version-check:
+
+=for comment ignore-pt-internal-value
+MAGIC_version_check
+
+https, http, auto, off
+
+C<auto> first tries using C<https>, and resorts to C<http> if that fails.
+Keep in mind that C<https> might not be available if
+C<IO::Socket::SSL> is not installed on your system, although
+C<--version-check http> should work everywhere.
 
 The version check feature causes the tool to send and receive data from
 Percona over the web.  The data contains program versions from the local

=== modified file 'lib/OptionParser.pm'
--- lib/OptionParser.pm	2012-10-22 17:43:33 +0000
+++ lib/OptionParser.pm	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@
       'default'    => 1,
       'cumulative' => 1,
       'negatable'  => 1,
-      'value_is_optional' => 1,
    );
 
    my $self = {
@@ -414,10 +413,9 @@
             $opt->{short} = undef;
          }
 
-         $opt->{is_negatable}   = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_cumulative}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{optional_value} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/:/        ? 1 : 0;
-         $opt->{is_required}    = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_negatable}  = $opt->{spec} =~ m/!/        ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_cumulative} = $opt->{spec} =~ m/\+/       ? 1 : 0;
+         $opt->{is_required}   = $opt->{desc} =~ m/required/ ? 1 : 0;
 
          $opt->{group} ||= 'default';
          $self->{groups}->{ $opt->{group} }->{$long} = 1;
@@ -600,7 +598,7 @@
    if ( $opt->{is_cumulative} ) {
       $opt->{value}++;
    }
-   elsif ( !($opt->{optional_value} && !$val) ) {
+   else {
       $opt->{value} = $val;
    }
    $opt->{got} = 1;
@@ -1275,12 +1273,11 @@
 sub _parse_attribs {
    my ( $self, $option, $attribs ) = @_;
    my $types = $self->{types};
-   my $eq    = $attribs->{'value_is_optional'} ? ':' : '=';
    return $option
       . ($attribs->{'short form'} ? '|' . $attribs->{'short form'}   : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'negatable'}  ? '!'                              : '' )
       . ($attribs->{'cumulative'} ? '+'                              : '' )
-      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? $eq . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
+      . ($attribs->{'type'}       ? '=' . $types->{$attribs->{type}} : '' );
 }
 
 sub _parse_synopsis {

=== modified file 'lib/Pingback.pm'
--- lib/Pingback.pm	2012-09-24 19:24:11 +0000
+++ lib/Pingback.pm	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -55,17 +55,25 @@
 };
 
 sub version_check {
-   my $args        = pop @_;
-   my (@instances) = @_;
+   my %args      = @_;
+   my @instances = $args{instances} ? @{ $args{instances} } : ();
    # If this blows up, oh well, don't bother the user about it.
    # This feature is a "best effort" only; we don't want it to
    # get in the way of the tool's real work.
 
    if (exists $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK} && !$ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK}) {
-      print STDERR '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
+      warn '--version-check is disabled by the PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK ',
                    "environment variable.\n\n";
       return;
    }
+
+   # we got here if the protocol wasn't "off", and the values
+   # were validated earlier, so just handle auto
+   # This line is mostly here for the test suite:
+   $args{protocol} ||= 'https';
+   my @protocols = $args{protocol} eq 'auto'
+                 ? qw(https http)
+                 : $args{protocol};
    
    my $instances_to_check = [];
    my $time               = int(time());
@@ -82,22 +90,29 @@
       ($time_to_check, $instances_to_check)
          = time_to_check($check_time_file, \@instances, $time);
       if ( !$time_to_check ) {
-         print STDERR 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
+         warn 'It is not time to --version-check again; ',
                       "only 1 check per day.\n\n";
          return;
       }
 
-      my $protocol = $args->{protocol} || 'https';
-      my $advice = pingback(
-         url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
-         instances => $instances_to_check,
-         protocol  => $args->{protocol},
-      );
+      my $advice;
+      my $e;
+      for my $protocol ( @protocols ) {
+         $advice = eval { pingback(
+            url       => $ENV{PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK_URL} || "$protocol://v.percona.com",
+            instances => $instances_to_check,
+            protocol  => $protocol,
+         ) };
+         # No advice, and no error, so no reason to keep trying.
+         last if !$advice && !$EVAL_ERROR;
+         $e ||= $EVAL_ERROR;
+      }
       if ( $advice ) {
          print "# Percona suggests these upgrades:\n";
          print join("\n", map { "#   * $_" } @$advice), "\n\n";
       }
       else {
+         die $e if $e;
          print "# No suggestions at this time.\n\n";
          ($ENV{PTVCDEBUG} || PTDEBUG )
             && _d('--version-check worked, but there were no suggestions');
@@ -124,7 +139,7 @@
    # Optional args
    my ($instances, $ua, $vc) = @args{qw(instances ua VersionCheck)};
 
-   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 2 );
+   $ua ||= HTTPMicro->new( timeout => 5 );
    $vc ||= VersionCheck->new();
 
    # GET https://upgrade.percona.com, the server will return
@@ -393,6 +408,22 @@
    return $client_response;
 }
 
+sub validate_options {
+   my ($o) = @_;
+
+   # No need to validate anything if we didn't get an explicit v-c
+   return if !$o->got('version-check');
+
+   my $value  = $o->get('version-check');
+   my @values = split /, /,
+                $o->read_para_after(__FILE__, qr/MAGIC_version_check/);
+   chomp(@values);
+                
+   return if grep { $value eq $_ } @values;
+   $o->save_error("--version-check invalid value $value.  Accepted values are "
+                . join(", ", @values[0..$#values-1]) . " and $values[-1]" );
+}
+
 sub _d {
    my ($package, undef, $line) = caller 0;
    @_ = map { (my $temp = $_) =~ s/\n/\n# /g; $temp; }

=== modified file 't/lib/OptionParser.t'
--- t/lib/OptionParser.t	2012-10-22 18:16:42 +0000
+++ t/lib/OptionParser.t	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -145,7 +145,6 @@
          type           => 's',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'port'       => {
          spec           => 'port|p=i',
@@ -159,7 +158,6 @@
          type           => 'i',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'price'      => {
          spec           => 'price=f',
@@ -173,7 +171,6 @@
          type           => 'f',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'hash-req'   => {
          spec           => 'hash-req=s',
@@ -187,7 +184,6 @@
          type           => 'H',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'hash-opt'   => {
          spec           => 'hash-opt=s',
@@ -201,7 +197,6 @@
          type           => 'h',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'array-req'  => {
          spec           => 'array-req=s',
@@ -215,7 +210,6 @@
          type           => 'A',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'array-opt'  => {
          spec           => 'array-opt=s',
@@ -229,7 +223,6 @@
          type           => 'a',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'host'       => {
          spec           => 'host=s',
@@ -243,7 +236,6 @@
          type           => 'd',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'chunk-size' => {
          spec           => 'chunk-size=s',
@@ -257,7 +249,6 @@
          type           => 'z',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'time'       => {
          spec           => 'time=s',
@@ -271,7 +262,6 @@
          type           => 'm',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'help'       => {
          spec           => 'help+',
@@ -285,7 +275,6 @@
          type           => undef,
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'other'      => {
          spec           => 'other!',
@@ -299,7 +288,6 @@
          type           => undef,
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       }
    },
    'Parse opt specs'
@@ -520,7 +508,6 @@
          type           => undef,
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'defaultset'    => {
          spec           => 'defaultset!',
@@ -536,7 +523,6 @@
          type           => undef,
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'defaults-file' => {
          spec           => 'defaults-file|F=s',
@@ -550,7 +536,6 @@
          type           => 's',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'dog'           => {
          spec           => 'dog|D=s',
@@ -564,7 +549,6 @@
          type           => 's',
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
       'love'          => {
          spec           => 'love|l+',
@@ -578,7 +562,6 @@
          type           => undef,
          got            => 0,
          value          => undef,
-         optional_value => 0,
       },
    },
    'Parse dog specs'
@@ -978,7 +961,6 @@
       long          => 'bar',
       type          => undef,
       parsed        => 1,
-      optional_value=> 0,
    },
    'Disabled opt is not destroyed'
 );
@@ -2008,55 +1990,13 @@
 $output = output(
    sub { $o->usage_or_errors(undef, 1); },
 );
+$synop{usage} =~ s/([\[\]])/\\$1/g;
 like(
    $output,
-   qr/^$synop{description}  For more details.+\nUsage: \Q$synop{usage}\E\n?$/m,
+   qr/^$synop{description}  For more details.+\nUsage: $synop{usage}$/m,
    "Uses desc and usage from SYNOPSIS for help"
 );
 
-# Add a value_is_optional option
-@ARGV = qw();
-$o->get_opts();
-
-ok(
-   !$o->got('version-check'),
-   "version-check is not true by default"
-);
-
-is(
-   $o->get('version-check'),
-   "https",
-   "..but it still has a value",
-);
-
-@ARGV = qw(--version-check);
-$o->get_opts();
-
-ok(
-   $o->got('version-check'),
-   "version-check is true if specified without arguments"
-);
-
-is(
-   $o->get('version-check'),
-   "https",
-   "..and has the default value",
-);
-
-@ARGV = qw(--version-check http);
-$o->get_opts();
-
-ok(
-   $o->got('version-check'),
-   "version-check is true if specified with arguments"
-);
-
-is(
-   $o->get('version-check'),
-   "http",
-   "..and has the specified value",
-);
-
 # #############################################################################
 # Bug 1039074: Tools exit 0 on error parsing options, should exit non-zero
 # #############################################################################
@@ -2094,3 +2034,4 @@
 );
 
 done_testing;
+exit;

=== modified file 't/lib/Pingback.t'
--- t/lib/Pingback.t	2012-10-06 17:39:02 +0000
+++ t/lib/Pingback.t	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -510,6 +510,24 @@
 }
 
 # #############################################################################
+# Check that the --v-c OPT validation works everywhere
+# #############################################################################
+
+use File::Basename qw(basename);
+
+my @vc_tools = grep { chomp; basename($_) =~ /\A[a-z-]+\z/ }
+              `grep --files-with-matches Pingback $trunk/bin/*`;
+
+foreach my $tool ( @vc_tools ) {
+   my $output = `$tool --version-check ftp`;
+   like(
+      $output,
+      qr/\Q* --version-check invalid value ftp.  Accepted values are https, http, auto and off/,
+      "Valid values for v-c are checked in $tool"
+   );
+}
+
+# #############################################################################
 # Done.
 # #############################################################################
 $sb->wipe_clean($master_dbh) if $master_dbh;

=== modified file 't/pt-query-digest/version_check.t'
--- t/pt-query-digest/version_check.t	2012-09-24 20:12:53 +0000
+++ t/pt-query-digest/version_check.t	2012-11-06 15:04:24 +0000
@@ -109,6 +109,19 @@
    "percona-toolkit-version-check file not created with --no-version-check"
 );
 
+$output = `PTVCDEBUG=1 $cmd --version-check off @args 2>&1`;
+
+unlike(
+   $output,
+   qr/(?:VersionCheck|Pingback|Percona suggests)/,
+   "Looks like --version-check off disabled the version-check"
+) or diag($output);
+
+ok(
+   !-f $check_time_file,
+   "percona-toolkit-version-check file not created with --version-check off"
+);
+
 # PERCONA_VERSION_CHECK=0 is handled in Pingback, so it will print a line
 # for PTVCDEBUG saying why it didn't run.  So we just check that it doesn't
 # create the file which also signifies that it didn't run.