Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!shelby!portia!forel!karish
From: karish@forel.stanford.edu (Chuck Karish)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: exit codes
Keywords: pick-a-number, any-number
Message-ID: <4616@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 18 Aug 89 15:32:02 GMT
References: <33@dgis.daitc.mil>
Sender: USENET News System 
Reply-To: karish@forel.stanford.edu (Chuck Karish)
Organization: Mindcraft, Inc.
Lines: 13

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