https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55313
--- Comment #6 from Kunal Mehta (Legoktm) legoktm.wikipedia@gmail.com --- What you want to have, in the above example, can be had with:
python interwiki.py -v -hintfile: -file: Pywikipediabot (r6439 (wikipedia.py), Feb 24 2009, 21:48:26) Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Jan 4 2009, 21:59:32) [GCC 4.3.2] Please enter the hint filename: hints.txt Please enter the local file name: local-page-title.txt
There is no documentation saying that -hintfile: was overriding or altering the processing of any other parameter (and in fact, it does not)
Be aware that it is hardly useful to have a file with several page titles given via -file: when -hintfile: is being used, since hints would apply to each of those pages, provoking interwiki conflicts. Thus -hintfile: is likely more often used with a singe page title on the command line. That does not preclude, however, a single page title being read from a file using -file:
If, and only if, the file given via -hintfile: has only unspecific hints, such as [[10:]] or [[en:]] or [[latin:]], (or all specific hinted pages do not exist) then supplying a list of pages via -file: would be likely free of conflicts.
There is a difference between hints and the page being processed. While for the outcome, in properly preset cases, it is often irrelevant where the bot starts processing, and which pages are then added because hinted, for the paths the bot follows while collecting links, it does make a huge difference sometimes. We can have hintless processing, but we cannot have a bot run on hints alone, without a starting page.
Maybe we should add some of these to the documentation? Is that, which you are asking for?