[reinhardt]

Just use the library. It's a solved problem!

Indeed! In fact it is so solved that the Python standard library has solved it differently 3-4 (I've lost count) times already, let alone the dozen or two extra packages at PyPI ;)

[Goladus]

Yeah most of my scripts use OptParse and I'm procrastinating the rewrite for newer versions of python. I think I may just use getopt, which isn't going anywhere, and roll my own extensions if I need them.