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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0001594 [1003.1(2016/18)/Issue7+TC2] Shell and Utilities Comment Error 2022-07-29 11:06 2022-08-19 15:13
Reporter geoffclare View Status public  
Assigned To
Priority normal Resolution Accepted  
Status Applied  
Name Geoff Clare
Organization The Open Group
User Reference
Section command, env, nice, nohup, time, xargs
Page Number 2598 and more
Line Number 84368 and more
Interp Status ---
Final Accepted Text
Summary 0001594: App usage about exit code 127 is wrong
Description The command, env, nice, nohup, time, and xargs utilities all have a paragraph in APPLICATION USAGE that begins:
The command, env, nice, nohup, time, and xargs utilities have been specified to use exit code 127 if an error occurs so that applications can distinguish ``failure to find a utility'' from ``invoked utility exited with an error indication''.

This statement is only true for the command and nohup utilities where exit status 127 is described as:
An error occurred in the command utility or the utility specified by command_name could not be found.
(and likewise for nohup).

For all of the others, the exit status when an error occurs in the utility itself is specified as 1-125.

Note that the suggested new text matches that proposed for the new timeout utility in bug 1586 Note: 0005920. If it is changed here it will need to be changed there as well.
Desired Action On page 2598 line 84368 section command, and
page 2694 line 87948 section env, and
page 3028 line 100764 section nice, and
page 3041 line 101203 section nohup, and
page 3299 line 111054 section time, and
page 3450 line 116526 section xargs, change:
if an error occurs
to:
if a utility to be invoked cannot be found

On page 2598 line 84370 section command, and
page 3041 line 101205 section nohup, after:
... ``invoked utility exited with an error indication''.
add:
However, the command and nohup utilities also use exit code 127 when an error occurs in those utilities, which means exit code 127 is not universally a ``not found'' indicator.

Tags tc3-2008
Attached Files

- Relationships
related to 0001586Applied timeout - new utility: run a command with a time limit 

There are no notes attached to this issue.

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare New Issue
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Name => Geoff Clare
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Organization => The Open Group
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Section => command, env, nice, nohup, time, xargs
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Page Number => 2598 and more
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Line Number => 84368 and more
2022-07-29 11:06 geoffclare Interp Status => ---
2022-07-29 11:07 geoffclare Relationship added related to 0001586
2022-08-01 15:40 Don Cragun Status New => Resolved
2022-08-01 15:40 Don Cragun Resolution Open => Accepted
2022-08-01 15:41 Don Cragun Tag Attached: tc3-2008
2022-08-19 15:13 geoffclare Status Resolved => Applied


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