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> Instead, the pre-defined exit codes from sysexits should be used, so the caller of the process can get a rough estimation about the failure class without look
by adrianmonk 5y ago
> Instead, the pre-defined exit codes from sysexits should be used, so the caller of the process can get a rough estimation about the failure class without looking up the source code.
I got a laugh out of how this assumes that checking the command's documentation isn't an option. If you want to know about program's behavior, you're going to be looking at the source code.
- jbverschoor 5y agoThe FreeBSD handbook is one of the most extensive, complete, and properly written manuals out there. Most (recent) open source projects don't even come close. So you can redirect your laughs to one of the other "open source" projects.
- adrianmonk 5y agoI'm laughing at the state of the industry in general. I'm definitely not laughing at the person who wrote this documentation since they're obviously part of the solution.
- jbverschoor 5y agoWell, I can only laugh together with you. Cry more likely
- mkipper 5y agoYeah, this is bizarre. What fraction of apps actually use sysexits.h? 0.1%? 0.01%? If an application fails and exits with some >1 error code, it would be insane to assume it's following this convention. Hopefully the command's documentation describes the error codes (either referencing sysexits or explicitly listing the non-standard exit codes), and if it doesn't, you'll be stuck looking at the source code anyway.