v3.6.2 regression: flag parsing skipped for help subcommands

[silverwind]

Filed by Claude on behalf of @silverwind

Description

PR #2245 introduced a regression in v3.6.2 where flag pre-parsing is skipped for any command named "help". This breaks applications that use flags with help subcommands, as the flags are never parsed.

The problematic change in command_run.go:

-	if cmd.isCompletionCommand {
+	if cmd.isCompletionCommand || cmd.Name == helpName {
		tracef("special command detected, skipping pre-parse (cmd=%[1]q)", cmd.Name)
		cmd.parsedArgs = args
		return ctx, cmd.Action(ctx, cmd)
	}

By matching on cmd.Name == helpName, this skips pre-parsing for ALL commands named "help", not just the internal completion command. This causes flags passed to help subcommands (e.g. myapp help -c mycmd) to be silently ignored.

Steps to reproduce

1. Define a CLI app with a flag (e.g. -c) on the help command
2. Run myapp help -c value
3. The flag value is never parsed

Expected behavior

Flags should be parsed normally for help commands, as they were in v3.6.1.

Actual behavior

Flag pre-parsing is skipped entirely, flags are ignored.

Workaround

Pin urfave/cli/v3 to v3.6.1 or earlier via replace directive in go.mod.

Related

• A recent change breaks custom help Commands #2260 (same root cause, different symptom)
• Fix:(issue_2244) Dont check req flags for help and completion commands #2245 (PR that introduced the regression)