Index: trunk/ippTools/src/camtool.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/ippTools/src/camtool.c	(revision 28369)
+++ trunk/ippTools/src/camtool.c	(revision 28370)
@@ -130,4 +130,8 @@
     PXOPT_LOOKUP_STR(note, config->args, "-set_note", false, false);
 
+    // default
+    PXOPT_LOOKUP_BOOL(pretend, config->args, "-pretend", false);
+    PXOPT_LOOKUP_BOOL(simple, config->args, "-simple", false);
+
     // find the exp_id of all the exposures that we want to queue up.
     psString query = pxDataGet("camtool_find_chip_id.sql");
@@ -161,4 +165,15 @@
     if (!psArrayLength(output)) {
         psTrace("camtool", PS_LOG_INFO, "no rows found");
+        psFree(output);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    if (pretend) {
+        // negative simple so the default is true
+        if (!ippdbPrintMetadatas(stdout, output, "chipRun", !simple)) {
+            psError(PS_ERR_UNKNOWN, false, "failed to print array");
+            psFree(output);
+            return false;
+        }
         psFree(output);
         return true;
Index: trunk/ippTools/src/camtoolConfig.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/ippTools/src/camtoolConfig.c	(revision 28369)
+++ trunk/ippTools/src/camtoolConfig.c	(revision 28370)
@@ -65,4 +65,6 @@
     psMetadataAddStr(definebyqueryArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-set_dist_group",     0, "define dist group", NULL);
     psMetadataAddStr(definebyqueryArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-set_note",           0, "define note", NULL);
+    psMetadataAddBool(definebyqueryArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-pretend",           0, "do not actual modify the database", false);
+    psMetadataAddBool(definebyqueryArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-simple",            0, "use the simple output format", false);
 
     // -updaterun
@@ -83,4 +85,5 @@
     psMetadataAddStr(updaterunArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-set_dist_group", 0,   "define new dist_group", NULL);
     psMetadataAddStr(updaterunArgs, PS_LIST_TAIL, "-set_note", 0,         "define new note", NULL);
+
     // -pendingexp
     psMetadata *pendingexpArgs = psMetadataAlloc();