diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index c7562c5..09a0d6d 100755
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -47,7 +47,9 @@ pkgmoduledir = $(guilesitedir)/$(PACKAGE)
 pkgmodule_DATA = src/mcron/config.scm
 dist_pkgmodule_DATA = \
   src/mcron/base.scm \
+  src/mcron/command-line-processor.scm \
   src/mcron/environment.scm \
+  src/mcron/getopt-long.scm \
   src/mcron/job-specifier.scm \
   src/mcron/redirect.scm \
   src/mcron/utils.scm \
diff --git a/src/cron.in b/src/cron.in
index b260a5e..4fb65c8 100644
--- a/src/cron.in
+++ b/src/cron.in
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 (use-modules  (mcron scripts cron)
               (mcron utils)
-              (ice-9 command-line-processor))
+              (mcron command-line-processor))
 
 (process-command-line  (command-line)
    application "cron"
@@ -49,5 +49,4 @@
    copyright "2003 - 2022  Free Software Foundation, Inc."
    license     GPLv3)
 
-
 (catch-mcron-error (main --schedule --noetc))
diff --git a/src/crontab.in b/src/crontab.in
index f203a98..fb624a3 100644
--- a/src/crontab.in
+++ b/src/crontab.in
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
   (set! %load-compiled-path (cons "%modbuilddir%" %load-compiled-path)))
 
 (use-modules (mcron scripts crontab)
-             (ice-9 command-line-processor))
+             (mcron command-line-processor))
 
 (process-command-line  (command-line)
    application "crontab"
diff --git a/src/mcron.in b/src/mcron.in
index a7707e0..ac4aace 100644
--- a/src/mcron.in
+++ b/src/mcron.in
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 (use-modules  (mcron scripts mcron)
               (mcron utils)
-              (ice-9 command-line-processor))
+              (mcron command-line-processor))
 
 (process-command-line  (command-line)
        application   "mcron"
diff --git a/src/mcron/command-line-processor.scm b/src/mcron/command-line-processor.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b5491b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcron/command-line-processor.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,653 @@
+;;;;                                                            -*- scheme -*-
+;;;; command-line-processor.scm --- command-line options processing
+;;;;
+;;;; Copyright (C) 1998, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2020
+;;;;                                            Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+;;;;
+;;;; This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+;;;; modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+;;;; License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+;;;; version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+;;;; 
+;;;; This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+;;;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+;;;; Lesser General Public License for more details.
+;;;; 
+;;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+;;;; License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+;;;; Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+;;;; 02110-1301 USA
+
+;;; Author: Dale Mellor   May, 2020
+
+;;; Commentary:
+
+;;; Where the Guile (ice-9 getopt-long) module, modelled after the GNU C
+;;; libraryʼs ‘getopt_long’ function, allows an application to construct
+;;; a grammar prescribing the decomposition of the command-line options,
+;;; this module, inspired by the C libraryʼs ‘argp’ parser, gives the
+;;; application a higher-level paradigm in which the command-line
+;;; processing is specified declaratively.  This includes enough of the
+;;; application meta-data and some fragmentary help strings for the
+;;; completely automatic generation of responses to GNU-standard
+;;; ‘--help’, ‘--version’ and ‘--usage’ options, thus alleviating the
+;;; need of the application itself to deal with these things.
+;;;
+;;; The module has three specific aims.
+;;;
+;;;    1) Provide higher-level declarative interface, easier to use.
+;;;
+;;;    2) Automatically respond to --help, --version and --usage
+;;;       options.
+;;;
+;;;    3) Allow amalgamation of specifications, so that an application
+;;;       can mix in requirements from modules into its own option
+;;;       specification--THIS IS NOT CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED.
+;;;
+;;; There is just one function which needs to be called to get all of
+;;; this functionality: it is ‘process-command-line’, and has the side
+;;; effect that new variable bindings appear in the current module
+;;; corresponding to all the options.  For example, if a declared option
+;;; is ‘--do-this’, then a variable called, literally, ‘--do-this’ will
+;;; be injected in the current namespace and will have the value
+;;; provided on the command-line, or simply #t or #f to indicate whether
+;;; or not that option was present on the command line.
+;;;
+;;; Alternatively, it is possible to create and compose the
+;;; specification in separate steps, and then call the above method with
+;;; the results.  The functions ‘command-line-specification’ and
+;;; ‘merge-command-line-specifications’ are provided to this end.
+
+;;; (process-command-line  COMMAND-LINE  SPECIFICATION)
+;;; Process the COMMAND-LINE according to the application SPECIFICATION.
+;;;
+;;; COMMAND-LINE is a list of strings, such as that returned from the
+;;; core ‘command-line’ function.
+;;;
+;;; SPECIFICATION is a form holding a space-separated mix of selection
+;;; words followed by their respective declarations.  The selection
+;;; words are ‘application’, ‘author’, ‘bug-address’, ‘copyright’,
+;;; ‘help-preamble’, ‘help-postamble’, ‘license’, ‘option’, ‘usage’ and
+;;; ‘version’, and can appear in any order.
+;;;
+;;;    ‘application’ should be followed by a string: the name of the
+;;;           application with possibly the package name in
+;;;           parentheses afterwards
+;;;    ‘author’ should be followed by a string giving the name of one of
+;;;           the packageʼs authors.  This selection word can be
+;;;           repeated as many times as necessary to provide the names
+;;;           of all authors.
+;;;    ‘bug-address’ should be followed by a string giving the URL of a
+;;;           contact-point for sending bug reports, such as an
+;;;           e-mail address or web address of bug-tracking system
+;;;           interface
+;;;    ‘copyright’ should be followed by a string containing a list of
+;;;           years and an entity to whom the copyright is assigned.
+;;;           This may be repeated to list other assignees
+;;;    ‘help-preamble’ should be followed by a number of strings which
+;;;           make up a short paragraph of text displayed before
+;;;           a full list of the available program options
+;;;    ‘help-postamble’, like the preamble, is followed by strings which
+;;;           make up a paragraph of text, shown after the list
+;;;           of options
+;;;    ‘license’ can be followed by one of the words ‘GPLv3’ [this is
+;;;           currently the only standard choice implemented], or else
+;;;           a string which briefly gives out the terms of the license
+;;;    ‘option’ is followed by an option declaration, described below
+;;;    ‘usage’ is followed by a string describing the usage of the
+;;;           application on one line
+;;;    ‘version’ is followed by a string providing the current version
+;;;           number of this program
+;;;
+;;; The ‘option’ declaration is followed by another form bracketed by
+;;; parentheses and holding a space-separated mix of declarations (order
+;;; irrelevant).
+;;;
+;;;    A word beginning with two hyphens, an optional exclamation point,
+;;;    alpha-numeric characters, an optional equals sign, and an
+;;;    optional further word.  There must be exactly one of these, and
+;;;    they determine the long name of the option.  An exclamation point
+;;;    indicates that the option MUST appear on the command line, an
+;;;    equals indicates that the option MUST have a value unless it is
+;;;    followed in the specification by a value, in which case the value
+;;;    on the command-line is optional and the one in the specification
+;;;    will be taken as the default when not given on the command line.
+;;;
+;;;    A word comprised of one hyphen and one letter or number.  There
+;;;    can be exactly zero or one of these, and it declares that the
+;;;    option has this short form available on the command-line.  As a
+;;;    very special exception: if you want to use ‘-i’ as an option, it
+;;;    must be specified with the identifier ‘short-i’ (a naked /-i/ is
+;;;    read as a complex number); ditto ‘short-I’ for ‘-I’.
+;;;
+;;;    A number of strings which are catenated together to provide a
+;;;    short, succinct description of the option.  These strings should
+;;;    be approximately half the width of a page, i.e. about 40
+;;;    characters.
+;;;
+;;;    A function which will be used as a predicate to decide if a value
+;;;    is allowable for this option.  There should be zero or one of
+;;;    these.
+;;;
+;;; For the precise presentation of options on the command-line, the
+;;; reader should refer to the description of the ‘getopt-long’ module,
+;;; which underlies the present one.
+;;;
+;;; At this point a short example is in order.  The main entry point for
+;;; the GNU Mcron program has as its first clause
+;;;
+;;; (process-command-line  (command-line)
+;;;       application   "mcron"
+;;;       version       "1.4"
+;;;       usage         "[OPTIONS]... [FILES]..."
+;;;       help-preamble
+;;;  "Run an mcron process according to the specifications in the FILE... "
+;;;  "(`-' for standard input), or use all the files in ~/.config/cron "
+;;;  "(or the deprecated ~/.cron) with .guile or .vixie extensions.\n"
+;;;  "Note that --daemon and --schedule are mutually exclusive."
+;;;       option  (--daemon  -d
+;;;                      "run as a daemon process")
+;;;       option  (--stdin=guile  short-i  (λ (in) (or (string=? in "guile")
+;;;                                                    (string=? in "vixie")))
+;;;                      "format of data passed as standard input or file "
+;;;                      "arguments, 'guile' or 'vixie' (default guile)")
+;;;       option  (--schedule=8  -s  string->number
+;;;                      "display the next N (or 8) jobs that will be run")
+;;;       help-postamble
+;;;  "Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or "
+;;;  "optional for any corresponding short options."
+;;;       bug-address "bug-mcron@gnu.org"
+;;;       copyright   "2003, 2006, 2014, 2020  Free Software Foundation, Inc."
+;;;       license     GPLv3)
+;;;
+;;; after which there are four new variable bindings in the present
+;;; namespace: --daemon, --stdin, --schedule and --! (the latter holds
+;;; all the command-line arguments that did not partake in option
+;;; processing) whose values depend on the specific command-line options
+;;; the end user furnished.
+
+;;; (command-line-specification  SPECIFICATION)
+;;; Compiles an object which encapsulates the given SPECIFICATION.
+;;;
+;;; For details of how to give a SPECIFICATION, see the description of
+;;; the full ‘process-command-line’ function above.  The return from
+;;; this method can be used in the partial version of
+;;; ‘process-command-line’ described below, and in the following
+;;; ‘merge-command-line-specifications’ function.
+
+;;; (merge-command-line-specifications SPECIFICATION_OBJECT ...)  Make a
+;;; single specification object which embodies the amalgamation of all
+;;; of the specification objects given as arguments.
+;;;
+;;; Order is important: if two option items specify the same short form
+;;; for the option (a single letter), then only the first option will
+;;; actually have that short form available at the command-line.
+;;; Similarly, if two options have exactly the same name, the second (or
+;;; later) ones will have a numerical digit appended to their name.
+
+;;; (process-command-line COMMAND-LINE SPECIFICATION-OBJECT) Perform
+;;; exactly the same function as the full ‘process-command-line’
+;;; function described above, but takes a pre-made specification object
+;;; produced using the two functions above.
+
+;;; Bugs/To do
+;;;
+;;; 1) This stuff currently only works in the top-level module.
+;;;
+;;; 2) Want to be able to amalgamate command-line specifications from
+;;; different modules.  Will need to get to the bottom of the first
+;;; issue before we can tackle this one (somehow need to put the
+;;; --option variable bindings into the right places, or at least
+;;; replicate them all in all modules which want to do some processing
+;;; of the command line).
+;;;
+;;; 3) Want more license boilerplate text; currently we only have GPLv3.
+
+;;; Code:
+
+(define-module (mcron command-line-processor)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-1)       ;; fold
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-9)       ;; records
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-9 gnu)   ;; set/get-fields
+  #:use-module (mcron getopt-long)
+  #:use-module (ice-9 regex)
+  #:export (specific option item
+            obtain-getopt-long-results
+            process-getopt-long-results
+            
+            ;; These are the real public exports.
+            process-command-line
+            command-line-specification
+            merge-command-line-specifications))
+
+
+
+(define-record-type  <<specification>>
+       (make-specification- preamble postamble copyright authors options)
+       specification?
+          (name        spec:name      spec:set-name!)
+          (version     spec:version   spec:set-version!)
+          (usage       spec:usage     spec:set-usage!)
+          (preamble    spec:preamble  spec:set-preamble!)
+          (postamble   spec:postamble spec:set-postamble!)
+          (bug-address spec:bugs      spec:set-bugs!)
+          (copyright   spec:copyright spec:set-copyright!)
+          (license     spec:license   spec:set-license!)
+          (authors     spec:authors   spec:set-authors!)
+          (options     spec:options   spec:set-all-options!))
+
+;; We initialize the fields which are supposed to be lists, but
+;; generally this procedure should *not* be considered to be producing a
+;; properly specified <<specification>> record.
+(define (make-specification) (make-specification- '() '() '() '() '()))
+
+
+
+(define-record-type  <<option>>
+       (make-option- description)
+       option?
+          (name         option:name         option:set-name!)
+          (required?    option:required?)
+          (short-letter option:short        option:set-short!)
+          (value?       option:value?)
+          (default      option:default)
+          (description  option:description  option:set-description!)
+          (predicate    option:predicate    option:set-predicate!))
+
+;; As above, this initializer does *not* return a properly defined
+;; object.
+(define (make-option) (make-option- '()))
+
+
+
+(define (has-option-short-form spec letter)
+  (not (or (not letter)
+           (eq? #f (find (λ (a) (eqv? letter (option:short a)))
+                         (spec:options spec))))))
+
+(define (has-option-name spec name)
+  (not (eq? #f (find (λ (a) (string=? (option:name a) name))
+                     (spec:options spec)))))
+
+(define (merge-command-line-specifications- A B)
+  (for-each (λ (b-option)
+               (when (has-option-short-form A (option:short b-option))
+                 (option:set-short!  b-option  #f))
+               (let ((base-name (option:name b-option)))
+                 (when (has-option-name A base-name)
+                   (let loop ((count 1))
+                        (let ((new-name (string-append base-name "-"
+                                                       (number->string count))))
+                          (if (has-option-name A new-name)
+                              (loop (1+ count))
+                              (option:set-name!  b-option  new-name))))))
+               (spec:set-all-options! A (append (spec:options A)
+                                                (list b-option))))
+            (spec:options B))
+  A)
+
+(define-syntax merge-command-line-specifications
+  (syntax-rules ()
+  "- Scheme Procedure: merge-command-line-specifications A B ...
+
+Append the list of options in A with those in B, but drop any
+short-forms in B which clash with existing ones, and if a long option
+name clashes then append a number to make it unique.  All of the
+arguments will be mutilated in the process, and a new specification
+object will be returned."
+    ((_ A B) (merge-command-line-specifications- A B))
+    ((_ A B . C) (merge-command-line-specifications
+                   (merge-command-line-specifications- A B)
+                   . C))))
+
+
+
+(define  long-re   (make-regexp "^--(!)?([[:alnum:]][-_[:alnum:]]*)(=(.+)?)?$"))
+(define  short-re  (make-regexp  "^-[[:alnum:]]$"))
+
+
+(define-syntax item   ;; As in, an option item (long name, short form...).
+  (λ (x) (syntax-case x (short-i short-I)
+
+    ;; No more work to do.
+    ((_ O) #'#t)
+
+    ;; Next option is a string: take as description.
+    ((_ O desc . args)
+     (string? (syntax->datum #'desc))
+     #'(begin (option:set-description! O (append (option:description O)
+                                                 (list desc)))
+              (item O . args)))
+
+    ;; Next option is short-form.
+    ((_ O short-i . args)
+     #'(begin (option:set-short! O #\i)
+              (item O . args)))
+
+    ((_ O short-I . args)
+     #'(begin (option:set-short! O #\I)
+              (item O . args)))
+
+    ((_ O short . args)
+     (and (identifier? #'short)
+          (regexp-exec short-re (symbol->string (syntax->datum #'short))))
+     #'(begin (option:set-short! O (string-ref (symbol->string 'short) 1))
+              (item O . args)))
+
+    ;; Next option is long-form.
+    ((_ O long . args)
+     (and (identifier? #'long)
+          (regexp-exec long-re (symbol->string (syntax->datum #'long))))
+     #'(begin (let ((match (regexp-exec long-re
+                                (symbol->string (syntax->datum #'long)))))
+                (set! O
+                   (set-fields O
+                     ((option:name)       (match:substring match 2))
+                     ((option:required?)  (if (match:substring match 1) #t #f))
+                     ((option:value?)
+                                 (cond ((not (match:substring match 3)) #f)
+                                       ((match:substring match 4)  'optional)
+                                       (else #t)))
+                     ((option:default)    (match:substring match 4)))))
+              (item O . args)))
+
+    ;; Next option is a procedure: take as predicate.
+
+    ((_ O (lambda args ...) . Args)
+     #'(begin (option:set-predicate! O (lambda args ...))
+              (item O . Args)))
+
+    ((_ O pred . args)
+     (and (identifier? #'pred)
+          ;; (procedure? (primitive-eval (syntax->datum #'pred)))
+          )
+     #'(begin (option:set-predicate! O pred)
+              (item O . args))))))
+
+
+
+(define-syntax-rule  (option args ...)
+    (let ((O (make-option))) (item O args ...) O))
+
+
+
+(define-syntax  specific
+  (λ (x)  (syntax-case  x  (application  author         bug-address
+                            copyright    help-preamble  help-postamble
+                            license      option         usage
+                            version)
+     ((specific spec application A args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'A))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-name! spec A)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec author A args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'A))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-author! spec (append (spec:authors spec)
+                                                    (list A)))
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec bug-address B args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'B))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-bugs! spec B)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec copyright C args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'C))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-copyright! spec (append (spec:copyright spec)
+                                                       (list C)))
+                      (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec help-preamble id args ...)
+      (identifier? #'id)
+            #'(specific spec id args ...))
+     ((specific spec help-preamble quotation args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'quotation))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-preamble! spec (append (spec:preamble spec)
+                                                      (list quotation)))
+                     (specific spec help-preamble args ...)))
+     ((specific spec help-postamble id args ...)
+      (identifier? #'id)
+            #'(specific spec id args ...))
+     ((specific spec help-postamble quotation args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'quotation))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-postamble! spec (append (spec:postamble spec)
+                                                       (list quotation)))
+                     (specific spec help-postamble args ...)))
+     ((specific spec license L args ...)
+      (identifier? #'L)
+            #'(begin (spec:set-license! spec 'L)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec license L args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'L))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-license! spec L)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec option (args ...) Args ...)
+            #'(begin (spec:set-all-options! spec
+                                            (append (spec:options spec)
+                                                    (list (option args ...))))
+                     (specific spec Args ...)))
+     ((specific spec usage U args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'U))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-usage! spec U)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec version V args ...)
+      (string? (syntax->datum #'V))
+            #'(begin (spec:set-version! spec V)
+                     (specific spec args ...)))
+     ((specific spec)  #'#t))))
+
+
+
+(define-syntax-rule  (command-line-specification args ...)
+;;   " - Scheme Procedure: command-line-specification ARGS ...
+
+;; Furnish an application specification object with attributes specified in
+;; ARGS followed by a number of values for the attribute.  Please refer to
+;; full documentation for a proper description of a specification object.
+
+;; The attributes are
+
+;;  application: string: the formal name of this application.  Must appear
+;;          exactly once.
+;;  author: string: the name of an author.  May appear any number of times.
+;;  bug-address: string: The URI to which bug reports should be addressed.
+;;          May appear zero or one times.
+;;  copyright: string: list of years and owning entity.  May appear any
+;;          number of times.
+;;  help-preamble: string: text to precede the list of options in a
+;;          response to the --help option.  This attribute may appear any
+;;          number of times, and each occurrence can be followed by one or
+;;          more strings which will be assembled together into paragraphs.
+;;  help-postamble: string: text to succeed the list of options in a help
+;;          message.  Same considerations apply as to ‘help-preamble’.
+;;  license: identifier or string: either the identifier ‘GPLv3’ or a
+;;          string describing the terms of the license.
+;;  option: (sub-form): the sub-form must contain one identifier composed
+;;          of two hyphens, an optional exclamation point, a token of
+;;          letters, numbers, underscore and hyphen, an optional equals
+;;          sign, and an optional word; the sub-form may have zero or one
+;;          identifiers composed of a hyphen and a single letter; any
+;;          number of strings which will be composed into a paragraph of
+;;          help for the option (these should be sized to half-line
+;;          lengths); and zero or one procedures which will be applied as a
+;;          predicate on allowable option values.  Any number of these
+;;          option attributes may appear in the specification.
+;;  usage: string: a single line of text prototyping the command line.
+;;          Zero or one of these may appear.
+;;  version: string: the version number of this application.  Zero or one
+;;          of these attributes may appear."
+
+  (let ((spec (make-specification)))
+    (specific spec args ...)
+    spec))
+
+
+
+(define (version-string spec)
+  (with-output-to-string (λ ()
+    (display (if (string? (spec:name spec))
+                 (spec:name spec)
+                 (car (command-line))))
+    (when (string? (spec:version spec))
+      (for-each display `(" " ,(spec:version spec) "\n")))
+    (unless (null? (spec:copyright spec))
+      (for-each display `("Copyright © "
+                          ,(string-join (spec:copyright spec) "\n            ")
+                          "\n")))
+    (cond ((eq? (spec:license spec) 'GPLv3)
+                (display (string-append
+                          "License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later "
+                          "<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.\nThis is "
+                          "free software: you are free to change and "
+                          "redistribute it.\nThere is NO WARRANTY, to the "
+                          "extent permitted by law.\n")))
+          ((string? (spec:license spec))
+                (display (spec:license spec)) (newline)))
+    (unless (null? (spec:authors spec))
+      (display (string-append "Written by "
+                        (case (length (spec:authors spec))
+                          ((1 2)  (string-join (spec:authors spec) " and "))
+                          (else
+                           (let loop ((a (cdr (spec:authors spec)))
+                                      (ret (car (spec:authors spec))))
+                                (if (null? (cdr a))
+                                    (string-append ret " and " (car a))
+                                  (loop (cdr a) (string-append ret ", "
+                                                               (car a)))))))
+                        ".\n"))))))
+
+
+
+(define (usage-string spec)
+  (string-append "Usage: " (spec:name spec) " " (spec:usage spec) "\n"))
+
+
+
+(define  (help-string spec)
+  (with-output-to-string (λ ()
+    (for-each display `(,(usage-string spec)
+                        ,(string-join (spec:preamble spec) "\n")
+                        "\n\n"))
+    (let ((max-length (fold (λ (o r) (max r (string-length (option:name o))))
+                            0
+                            (spec:options spec))))
+      (for-each (λ (o)
+              (display "  ")
+              (cond ((option:short o)
+                     (display "-") (display (option:short o))
+                     (case (option:value? o)  ((#t)        (display "N,   "))
+                                              ((optional)  (display "[N], "))
+                                              (else        (display ",    "))))
+                    (else (display "       ")))
+              (display "--")
+              (display (option:name o))
+              (case (option:value? o)  ((#t)       (display "=N  "))
+                                       ((optional) (display "[=N]"))
+                                       (else       (display "    ")))
+              (display (make-string (- max-length
+                                       (string-length (option:name o)))
+                                    #\space))
+              (display "  ")
+              (when  (option:required? o)  (display "*REQUIRED*: "))
+              (display (string-join (option:description o)
+                                    (string-append "\n"
+                                                   (make-string max-length
+                                                                #\space)
+                                                   "                   ")))
+              (newline))
+           (spec:options spec)))
+     (newline)
+     (display (string-join (spec:postamble spec) "\n"))
+     (when (spec:bugs spec)
+       (for-each display
+                 `("\nSend bug reports to " ,(spec:bugs spec) ".\n"))))))
+
+
+
+;;  Make a list out of the args, omitting any #f.
+(define (compose-list . args)
+  (let loop ((ret '()) (args args))
+       (cond ((null? args) (reverse ret))
+             ((not (car args)) (loop ret (cdr args)))
+             (else (loop (cons (car args) ret) (cdr args))))))
+
+(define (make-getopt-long-input spec)
+  (map (λ (o)
+         (compose-list (string->symbol (option:name o))
+                       (and=> (option:short o) (λ (x) `(single-char ,x)))
+                       `(required? ,(option:required? o))
+                       `(value ,(if (option:default o)
+                                    'optional
+                                  (option:value? o)))
+                       (and=> (option:predicate o) (λ (x) `(predicate ,x)))))
+       (spec:options spec)))
+
+
+
+(define-syntax-rule (obtain-getopt-long-results args spec)
+  (getopt-long args (make-getopt-long-input spec)))
+
+
+
+(define  (distill-getopt-long-results  go-l  spec)
+  (cons (cons "!" (option-ref go-l '() '()))
+        (map (λ (o)
+                (let ((g (option-ref go-l
+                                     (string->symbol (option:name o))
+                                     #f)))
+                  (when g
+                    (case (string->symbol (option:name o))
+                          ((help)    (display (help-string spec))    (exit 0))
+                          ((version) (display (version-string spec)) (exit 0))
+                          ((usage)   (display (usage-string spec))   (exit 0))))
+                  (cons (option:name o)
+                        (if (and (eq? #t g)
+                                 (not (eq? #f (option:default o))))
+                            (option:default o)
+                            g))))
+             (spec:options spec))))
+
+
+
+(define  (process-getopt-long-results go-l spec)
+  (for-each (λ (option)
+               (module-define!
+                        (current-module)
+                        (string->symbol (string-append "--" (car option)))
+                        (cdr option)))
+            (distill-getopt-long-results go-l spec)))
+
+
+
+(define-syntax  process-command-line
+;;   "- Scheme Procedure: process-command-line COMMAND-LINE SPECS [...]
+
+;; Process the COMMAND-LINE according to the SPECS, extracting options and
+;; their values, dealing with --help, --version and --usage requests.  The
+;; procedure has no return values, but has the side effect of creating
+;; variable bindings in the current module corresponding to the long form
+;; of the options, plus a variable called ‘--!’ which gets a list of all
+;; the arguments on the command-line which did not participate in option
+;; processing.
+
+;; The COMMAND-LINE is a list of strings, starting with the name of the
+;; program and containing all the tokens passed to the program on the
+;; command line, such as returned from the core ‘command-line’ procedure.
+
+;; The SPECS should have been obtained with the
+;; ‘command-line-specification’ procedure, or, as a short-cut, can be
+;; supplied directly as arguments to this procedure."
+
+  (syntax-rules ()
+    ((_ command-line specs)
+         (let ((S (merge-command-line-specifications
+                   specs
+                   (command-line-specification
+                     option (-h --help    "display this help and exit")
+                     option (-V --version "output version information and exit")
+                     option (-u --usage   "show brief usage summary")))))
+           (process-getopt-long-results
+             (obtain-getopt-long-results command-line S)
+             S)))
+    ((_ command-line item ...)
+         (process-command-line
+              command-line
+              (command-line-specification item ...)))))
diff --git a/src/mcron/getopt-long.scm b/src/mcron/getopt-long.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b05c9a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcron/getopt-long.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,552 @@
+;;;; getopt-long.scm --- long options processing           -*- scheme -*-
+;;;;
+;;;; Copyright (C) 1998, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2020
+;;;;                                            Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+;;;;
+;;;; This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+;;;; modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+;;;; License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+;;;; version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+;;;; 
+;;;; This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+;;;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;;;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+;;;; Lesser General Public License for more details.
+;;;; 
+;;;; You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+;;;; License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+;;;; Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+;;;; 02110-1301 USA
+
+;;; Author: Russ McManus
+;;;         Rewritten by Thien-Thi Nguyen
+;;;         Rewritten by Dale Mellor 2020-04-14
+
+;;; Commentary:
+
+;;; This module implements some complex command line option parsing, in
+;;; the spirit of the GNU C library function ‘getopt_long’.  Both long
+;;; and short options are supported.
+;;;
+;;; The theory is that people should be able to constrain the set of
+;;; options they want to process using a grammar, rather than some ad
+;;; hoc procedure.  The grammar makes the option descriptions easy to
+;;; read.
+;;;
+;;; ‘getopt-long’ is a procedure for parsing command-line arguments in a
+;;; manner consistent with other GNU programs.  ‘option-ref’ is a procedure
+;;; that facilitates processing of the ‘getopt-long’ return value.
+
+;;; (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
+;;; Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
+;;;
+;;; ARGS should be a list of strings.  Its first element should be the
+;;; name of the program, and subsequent elements should be the arguments
+;;; that were passed to the program on the command line.  The
+;;; ‘program-arguments’ procedure returns a list of this form.
+;;;
+;;; GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
+;;; ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
+;;;
+;;; Each OPTION should be a symbol.  ‘getopt-long’ will accept a
+;;; command-line option named ‘--OPTION’.
+;;; Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
+;;;
+;;;   (single-char CHAR) --- Accept ‘-CHAR’ as a single-character
+;;;		equivalent to ‘--OPTION’.  This is how to specify traditional
+;;;		Unix-style flags.
+;;;   (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
+;;;		getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
+;;;   (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
+;;;		it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
+;;;		‘optional’, the option may appear in ARGS with or
+;;;		without a value.
+;;;   (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
+;;;		specified ‘(value #t)’ or ‘(value 'optional)’ for this
+;;;		option), then getopt will apply FUNC to the value, and
+;;;		will not take the value if it returns #f.  FUNC should
+;;;		be a procedure which accepts a string and returns a
+;;;		boolean value; you may need to use quasiquotes to get it
+;;;		into GRAMMAR.
+;;;
+;;; The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
+;;; property may occur only once.  By default, options do not have
+;;; single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
+;;; values.
+;;;
+;;; In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
+;;; Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy").  If an option
+;;; accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
+;;; combination; the value is the next argument.  So, for example, using
+;;; the following grammar:
+;;;      ((apples    (single-char #\a))
+;;;       (blimps    (single-char #\b) (value #t))
+;;;       (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
+;;; the following argument lists would be acceptable:
+;;;    ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth")     ("bang" and "couth" are the values
+;;;                                         for "blimps" and "catalexis")
+;;;    ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth")         (same)
+;;;    ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang")         (same)
+;;;
+;;; If an option's value is optional, then ‘getopt-long’ decides whether
+;;; it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS.  If the next
+;;; element does not appear to be an option itself, and passes a
+;;; predicate if given, then that element is taken to be the option's
+;;; value.  Note that predicate functions are invaluable in this respect
+;;; for differentiating options and option values, and in the case of
+;;; options with optional values, PREDICATES REALLY SHOULD BE GIVEN.  If
+;;; an option is supposed to take a numerical value, then
+;;; ‘string->number’ can be used as the predicate; this will also allow
+;;; negative values to be used, which would ordinarily be regarded as
+;;; bad options causing the module, and the application consuming it, to
+;;; bail out with an immediate exit to the operating system.
+;;;
+;;; The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
+;;; or it can follow the option name, separated by an ‘=’ character.
+;;; Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
+;;; are equivalent:
+;;;   ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
+;;;   ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
+;;;   ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
+;;;
+;;; If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
+;;; subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
+;;; they resemble options.  So, in the argument list:
+;;;         ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
+;;; ‘getopt-long’ will recognize the ‘apples’ option as having the value
+;;; "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the ‘blimp’ option; it
+;;; will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as ordinary
+;;; argument strings.  The first "--" argument itself will *not* appear
+;;; in the ordinary arguments list, although the occurrence of
+;;; subsequent ones will.
+;;;
+;;; The ‘getopt-long’ function returns the parsed argument list as an
+;;; assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
+;;; --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
+;;; Unused options do not appear in the alist.
+;;;
+;;; All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned as a
+;;; list, associated with the empty list in the above returned
+;;; association.
+;;;
+;;; ‘getopt-long’ throws an exception if:
+;;; - it finds an unrecognized property in GRAMMAR
+;;; - the value of the ‘single-char’ property is not a character
+;;; - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
+;;; - a required option is omitted
+;;; - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
+;;; - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
+;;;   only happen using the long option ‘--opt=value’ syntax)
+;;; - an option predicate fails
+;;;
+;;; So, for example:
+;;;
+;;; (define grammar
+;;;   `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
+;;;                   (value #t)
+;;;                   (single-char #\k)
+;;;                   (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
+;;;     (verbose (required? #f)
+;;;              (single-char #\v)
+;;;              (value #f))
+;;;     (x-includes (single-char #\x))
+;;;     (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
+;;;                  (predicate ,string?))))
+;;;
+;;; (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
+;;;                "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
+;;;                grammar)
+;;; => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
+;;; 	(rnet-server . "lamprod")
+;;; 	(x-includes . "/usr/include")
+;;; 	(lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
+;;; 	(verbose . #t))
+
+;;; (option-ref OPTIONS KEY DEFAULT)
+;;; Return value in alist OPTIONS using KEY, a symbol; or DEFAULT if not
+;;; found.  The return is either a string or ‘#t’, or whatever DEFAULT
+;;; is.
+;;;
+;;; For example, using the ‘getopt-long’ return value from above:
+;;;
+;;; (option-ref (getopt-long ...) 'x-includes 42) => "/usr/include"
+;;; (option-ref (getopt-long ...) 'not-a-key! 31) => 31
+
+;;; Code:
+
+(define-module (mcron getopt-long)
+  #:use-module (ice-9 control)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-1)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-9)
+  #:use-module (ice-9 match)
+  #:use-module (ice-9 regex)
+  #:use-module (ice-9 receive)
+  #:export (getopt-long option-ref))
+
+(define program-name (make-parameter "guile"))
+
+(define (fatal-error fmt . args)
+  (format (current-error-port) "~a: " (program-name))
+  (apply format (current-error-port) fmt args)
+  (newline (current-error-port))
+  (exit 1))
+
+;; name: string, required?: bool, single-char: char or #f, predicate:
+;; procedure or #f, value-policy: bool or 'optional.
+(define-record-type option-spec
+  (%make-option-spec name required? single-char predicate value-policy)
+  option-spec?
+  (name         option-spec->name)
+  (required?    option-spec->required?    set-option-spec-required?!)
+  (single-char  option-spec->single-char  set-option-spec-single-char!)
+  (predicate    option-spec->predicate    set-option-spec-predicate!)
+  (value-policy option-spec->value-policy set-option-spec-value-policy!))
+
+(define (make-option-spec name)
+  (%make-option-spec name #f #f #f #f))
+
+(define (parse-option-spec desc)
+  (let ((spec (make-option-spec (symbol->string (car desc)))))
+    (for-each (match-lambda
+                (('required? val)
+                 (set-option-spec-required?! spec val))
+                (('value val)
+                 (set-option-spec-value-policy! spec val))
+                (('single-char val)
+                 (unless (char? val)
+                   (fatal-error "‘single-char’ value must be a char!"))
+                 (set-option-spec-single-char! spec val))
+                (('predicate pred)
+                 (set-option-spec-predicate! spec pred))
+                ((prop val)
+                 (fatal-error "invalid getopt-long option property: " prop)))
+               (cdr desc))
+    spec))
+
+
+;; Extract the name of a long option given that it may or may not be
+;; surrounded by '--' and '=...'.
+(define isolate-long-name-re (make-regexp "^(--)?([^=]+)"))
+
+(define (isolate-long-name name)
+  (and=> (regexp-exec isolate-long-name-re name)
+    (λ (match) (match:substring match 2))))
+
+
+;;  Whatever the presentation of the long option, make sure it is in a
+;;  clean, normalized form (but this does NOT account for any value the
+;;  option might have).
+(define (re-present option)
+  (string-append "--" (isolate-long-name option) "="))
+
+
+;;  The /name/ can take the form of a long option entry on the command
+;;  line, with whatever decoration that entails.  Will return #f if a
+;;  spec does not exist for this named option.
+(define (find-spec-long specs name)
+  (and=> (isolate-long-name name)
+    (λ (name) (find (λ (a) (string=? (option-spec->name a) name)) specs))))
+
+
+;;  Return #f if a spec with the short /letter/ name does not exist.
+(define (find-spec-short specs letter)
+  (find (λ (a) (eqv? (option-spec->single-char a) letter)) specs))
+
+
+;;  Take, for example, /short/='-h' to '--help='.
+(define (double-up short specs)
+  (and=> (find-spec-short specs (string-ref short 1))
+    (λ (spec) (string-append "--" (option-spec->name spec) "="))))
+
+
+;;  This procedure does whatever is necessary to put the (ostensibly)
+;;  first item on the command-line into the canonical (normal) form
+;;  '--item=value'; this may mean consuming the next item of the
+;;  command-line (the first item of /rest/) to get the value.  Note that
+;;  the value may be missing, but the '=' sign will always be there in
+;;  the return.  The first item (/A/) will always be more than two
+;;  characters, and the first two characters will be "--", i.e. we are
+;;  processing a long option.
+;;
+;;  A          IN   string               The first argument on the command-line
+;;  rest       IN   list of strings      The remaining items of the command-line
+;;  specs      IN   list of option-spec  Options specification
+;;  remnant    OUT  list of strings      The unprocessed command line
+;;  processed  OUT  string               New command-line argument
+(define (normalize-long-option A rest specs)
+  (define (return-empty-arg) (values rest (re-present A)))
+  (define (return-arg-with-value)
+    (values (cdr rest) (string-append (re-present A) (car rest))))
+  (cond
+   ((string-index A #\=)
+    ;; The argument is already in the canonical form.
+    (values rest A))
+   ((find-spec-long specs A)
+    => (λ (spec)
+          (if (cond ((null? rest) #f)
+                    ((option-spec->predicate spec)
+                     => (λ (pred) (pred (car rest))))
+                    (else
+                      (case (option-spec->value-policy spec)
+                        ((#f) #f)
+                        ((optional) 
+                         (not (eqv? (string-ref (car rest) 0) #\-)))
+                        ((#t)
+                         (or (string->number (car rest))
+                             (not (eqv? (string-ref (car rest) 0) #\-)))))))
+              (return-arg-with-value)
+              (return-empty-arg))))
+   (else
+    ;; We know nothing about this option, abort operations.
+    (fatal-error "no such option: --~a" (isolate-long-name A)))))
+
+
+
+;;  This procedure does whatever is necessary to put the (ostensibly)
+;;  first item on the command-line into the canonical form
+;;  '--item=value'; this may mean consuming the next item of the
+;;  command-line (the first item of /rest/) to get the value.  Note that
+;;  the value may be missing, but the '=' sign will always be there in
+;;  the return.  The first item (/A/) will always be exactly two
+;;  characters, and the first character will be "-", i.e. we are
+;;  processing an isolated short option.
+;;
+;;  A          IN   string               The first argument on the command-line
+;;  rest       IN   list of strings      The remaining items of the command-line
+;;  specs      IN   list of option-spec  Options specification
+;;  remnant    OUT  list of strings      The unprocessed command line
+;;  processed  OUT  string               New command-line argument
+(define (normalize-free-short-option A rest specs)
+  (define (return-empty-arg) (values rest (double-up A specs)))
+  (define (return-arg-with-next-value)
+    (values (cdr rest) (string-append (double-up A specs) (car rest))))
+  (let* ((name (string-ref A 1))
+         (spec (find-spec-short specs name)))
+    (if (cond ((not spec) (fatal-error "no such option: -~a" name))
+              ((null? rest) #f)
+              ((option-spec->predicate spec)
+               => (λ (pred) (pred (car rest))))
+              (else (case (option-spec->value-policy spec)
+                      ((optional) (not (eq? (string-ref (car rest) 0) #\-)))
+                      (else => identity))))
+        (return-arg-with-next-value)
+        (return-empty-arg))))
+
+
+
+;; The /sequence/ is a string of characters from the command line, and
+;; the task is to decide if those characters are a viable clumped option
+;; sequence, possibly using some of the trailing characters as option
+;; values, or not.
+(define (viable-short sequence specs)
+  (cond ((eq? 0 (string-length sequence)) #t)
+        ((find-spec-short specs (string-ref sequence 0))
+         => (λ (spec)
+               (cond ((option-spec->predicate spec)
+                      => (λ (pred) (pred (substring sequence 1))))
+                     (else
+                      ;; If this optionʼs /value-policy/ allows the
+                      ;; option to take a value then this string is
+                      ;; viable as the remainder can be taken as that
+                      ;; value.  Otherwise we must assert the viability
+                      ;; of the rest of the line by recursion.
+                      (or (not (eq? #f (option-spec->value-policy spec)))
+                          (viable-short (substring sequence 1) specs))))))
+        (else #f)))
+
+
+
+;;  This procedure does whatever is necessary to put the (ostensibly)
+;;  first item on the command-line into the canonical form
+;;  '--item=value'.  Note that the value may be missing, but the '='
+;;  sign will always be there in the return.  The first item (/A/) will
+;;  always be *more* than two characters, and the first character will
+;;  be "-", i.e. we are processing a short option which is either
+;;  clumped with other short options, or is clumped with its value.
+;;
+;;  NOTE that, contrary to the other normalize procedures, the return
+;;  value of /processed/ can be #f, with the expectation that the
+;;  modified /remnant/ will be re-processed.
+;;
+;;  A          IN   string               The first argument on the command-line
+;;  rest       IN   list of strings      The remaining items of the command-line
+;;  specs      IN   list of option-spec  Options specification
+;;  remnant    OUT  list of strings      The unprocessed command line
+;;  processed  OUT  string               New command-line argument
+(define (normalize-clumped-short-option A rest specs)
+  (define (declump-arg) (values (cons* (string-append "-" (substring A 1 2))
+                                       (string-append "-" (substring A 2))
+                                       rest)
+                                #f))
+  (define (construct-arg-from-clumped-value)
+    (values rest (string-append (double-up A specs) (substring A 2))))
+  (unless (char-alphabetic? (string-ref A 1)) (values rest A))
+  (let ((spec (find-spec-short specs (string-ref A 1))))
+    (if (cond ((not spec) (fatal-error "no such option: -~a" (string-ref A 1)))
+              ((option-spec->predicate spec)
+               => (λ (pred) (pred (substring A 2))))
+              (else (case (option-spec->value-policy spec)
+                      ((optional) (not (viable-short (substring A 2) specs)))
+                      (else => identity))))
+        (construct-arg-from-clumped-value)
+        (declump-arg))))
+
+
+
+;;  Return a version of the command-line /args/ in which all options are
+;;  represented in long form with an equals sign (whether they have a
+;;  value or not).
+(define (normalize args specs stop-at-first-non-option?)
+  (call/ec
+    (λ (return)
+      (let loop ((args args) (processed '()))
+        (when (null? args) (return (reverse processed)))
+        (define A (car args))
+        (define L (string-length A))
+        (define (when-loop cond normalizer)
+          (when cond
+            (receive (remainder-args processed-arg)
+                     (normalizer A (cdr args) specs)
+                     (loop
+                       remainder-args
+                       (if processed-arg
+                           (cons processed-arg processed)
+                           processed)))))
+        (when (string=? "--" A)
+          (return (append (reverse processed) args)))
+        (when-loop (and (> L 2) (string=? (substring A 0 2) "--"))
+          normalize-long-option)
+        (when-loop (and (eqv? L 2) (eqv? (string-ref A 0) #\-))
+          normalize-free-short-option)
+        (when-loop (and (> L 1) (eqv? (string-ref A 0) #\-))
+          normalize-clumped-short-option)
+        (if stop-at-first-non-option?
+            (return (append (reverse processed) args))
+            (loop (cdr args) (cons A processed)))))))
+
+
+
+;;  Check that all the rules inherent in the /specs/ are fulfilled by
+;;  the /options/.
+(define (verify-specs-fullfilled specs options)
+  (for-each
+    (λ (spec)
+      (let* ((name (option-spec->name spec))
+             (value (assq-ref options (string->symbol name))))
+        (when (and (option-spec->required? spec) (not value))
+          (fatal-error "option must be specified: --~a" name))
+        (let ((policy (option-spec->value-policy spec)))
+          (when (and (eq? policy #t) (eq? value  #t))
+            (fatal-error "option must be specified with argument: --~a" name))
+          (when (and (eq? policy #f) (string? value))
+            (fatal-error "option does not support argument: --~a" name)))
+        (let ((pred (option-spec->predicate spec)))
+          (when (and pred (string? value) (not (pred value)))
+            (fatal-error "option predicate failed: --~a" name)))))
+   specs))
+
+
+
+;;  Check that all the options are matched by a specification.
+(define (verify-options options specs)
+  (for-each
+    (λ (value)
+      (unless (or (null? (car value))
+                  (find-spec-long specs (symbol->string (car value))))
+        (fatal-error "no such option: --~a" (car value))))
+   options))
+
+
+
+;;  This procedure will simply return if the options and the specs
+;;  conform with each other, or else will bail out with an error
+;;  message.
+(define (check-compliance options specs)
+  (verify-specs-fullfilled specs options)
+  (verify-options options specs))
+
+
+
+(define full-option-re (make-regexp "^--([^=]+)=(.+)?$"))
+
+;; The /normal-args/ are a normalized command line in which all
+;; options are expressed long-form, and the task here is to construct an
+;; /options/ object: an associative array of option names onto values
+;; (or #t if there is no value).
+(define (extract-options normal-args stop-at-first-non-option?)
+  (let loop ((args normal-args)
+             (options '())
+             (non-options '()))
+       (cond
+         ((null? args) (acons '() (reverse non-options) options))
+         ((string=? (car args) "--")
+          (acons '() (append (reverse non-options) (cdr args)) options))
+         ((regexp-exec full-option-re (car args))
+          => (λ (match)
+                (loop (cdr args)
+                      (acons (string->symbol (match:substring match 1))
+                             (or (match:substring match 2) #t)
+                             options)
+                      non-options)))
+         (stop-at-first-non-option?
+          (acons '() (append (reverse non-options) args) options))
+         (else
+           (loop (cdr args) options (cons (car args) non-options))))))
+
+
+
+(define* (getopt-long program-arguments option-desc-list
+                      #:key stop-at-first-non-option)
+  "- Scheme Procedure: getopt-long PROGRAM-ARGUMENTS OPTION-DESC-LIST
+                                 [#:stop-at-first-non-option]
+
+Process options, handling both long and short options, similar to
+the glibc function 'getopt_long'.  PROGRAM-ARGUMENTS should be a value
+similar to what (program-arguments) returns.  OPTION-DESC-LIST is a
+list of option descriptions.  Each option description must satisfy the
+following grammar:
+
+    <option-spec>           :: (<name> . <attribute-ls>)
+    <attribute-ls>          :: (<attribute> . <attribute-ls>)
+                               | ()
+    <attribute>             :: <required-attribute>
+                               | <arg-required-attribute>
+                               | <single-char-attribute>
+                               | <predicate-attribute>
+                               | <value-attribute>
+    <required-attribute>    :: (required? <boolean>)
+    <single-char-attribute> :: (single-char <char>)
+    <value-attribute>       :: (value #t)
+                               (value #f)
+                               (value optional)
+    <predicate-attribute>   :: (predicate <1-ary-function>)
+
+    The procedure returns an alist of option names and values.  Each
+option name is a symbol.  The option value will be '#t' if no value
+was specified.  There is a special item in the returned alist with a
+key of the empty list, (): the list of arguments that are not options
+or option values.
+    By default, options are not required, and option values are not
+required.  By default, single character equivalents are not supported;
+if you want to allow the user to use single character options, you need
+to add a ‘single-char’ clause to the option description."
+  (parameterize ((program-name (car program-arguments)))
+    (let* ((specs (map parse-option-spec option-desc-list))
+           (options (extract-options
+                      (normalize (cdr program-arguments)
+                                 specs
+                                 stop-at-first-non-option)
+                      stop-at-first-non-option)))
+      (check-compliance options specs)
+      options)))
+
+
+
+(define (option-ref options key default)
+  "Return value in OPTIONS (as returned from getopt-long), using KEY--
+a symbol--, or DEFAULT if not found.  The value is either a string or
+‘#t’, or whatever DEFAULT is."
+  (or (assq-ref options key) default))
+
+
+;;; getopt-long.scm ends here
diff --git a/tests/schedule-2.sh b/tests/schedule-2.sh
index 531af54..66d0a55 100644
--- a/tests/schedule-2.sh
+++ b/tests/schedule-2.sh
@@ -74,8 +74,6 @@ Thu Jan  1 00:00:08 1970 +0000
 EOF
 
 mcron -s cron/foo.guile > output
-diff expected output \
-    || skip_ 'The -s option is not fully functional; 
-this will be fixed with a future version of GNU Guile.'
+diff expected output || fail_ "schedule output with -s is not correct"
 
 Exit 0
diff --git a/tests/schedule.sh b/tests/schedule.sh
index 9a1836e..807fc6e 100644
--- a/tests/schedule.sh
+++ b/tests/schedule.sh
@@ -126,6 +126,6 @@ Thu Jan  1 00:00:10 1970 +0000
 EOF
 
 mcron --schedule=10 > output
-diff expected output || fail_ "schedule output is not correct"
+diff expected output || fail_ "schedule output with --schedule is not correct"
 
 Exit 0