generous@dgis.daitc.mil (Curtis Generous) (08/18/89)
Has there ever been a consensus about what a `well-behaved` UN*X program
should return in both normal and error conditions. Examples of what I mean:
% mesg >& /dev/null; echo $status
13
% crypt junk < /tmp/f > /tmp/f2; echo $status
-1
...many others...
I got bit last night with one of those off-the-wall ones (sorry chris), and
can't help thinking that there has to be some guidelines to use on picking
exit codes, other than `exit(0) for normal termination, anything else you
want otherwise`.
--curtis
--
Curtis C. Generous
DTIC Special Projects Office (DTIC-SPO)
ARPA: generous@daitc.mil
UUCP: {uunet,vrdxhq}!dgis!generouskarish@forel.stanford.edu (Chuck Karish) (08/18/89)
In article <33@dgis.daitc.mil> generous@dgis.daitc.mil (Curtis Generous) wrote: >Has there ever been a consensus about what a `well-behaved` UN*X program >should return in both normal and error conditions. No. The exit status values for most utilities aren't documented at all in UN*X manuals. The POSIX 1003.2 committee is standardizing returns. Until their work is accepted, it will be an adventure to use utility return values in scripts that are meant to be portable. Chuck Karish karish@mindcraft.com (415) 493-9000 karish@forel.stanford.edu