-parser.add_option("-x", "--xmlrpc", action = "store_true", default = False, help = "Use XML-RPC interface")
-parser.add_option("--help", action = "help", help = "show this help message and exit")
+parser.add_option("-x", "--xmlrpc", action = "store_true",
+ default = False, help = "Use XML-RPC interface")
+# pass this to the invoked shell if any
+parser.add_option("--help", action = "store_true", dest="help", default=False,
+ help = "show this help message and exit")