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Re: Off topic: non zero error codes

From <tomas@tuxteam.de>
Newsgroups linux.debian.user
Subject Re: Off topic: non zero error codes
Date 2019-05-19 14:10 +0200
Message-ID <xZsNA-2eQ-17@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
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On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 05:21:38AM +0000, Erik Josefsson wrote:
> Good morning,
> 
> I have wanted to ask for a long time about something I made up from
> hearsay whether it is remotely true. I hope that's OK.
> 
> Is there is a shell/language where the returncode for TRUE is zero
> and that that is the opposite of how all other shells/languages are
> made?
> 
> The argument for creating it was that it then becomes handier to say
> "no errors, one error, two errors..." than to say "success, one
> error, two errors...".
> 
> I mean: (0, 1, 2, ...) is handier than (1, 0, whatever, ...).

Yes... and no.

What you are referring to is the UNIX convention, that programs
deliver an integer code at exit, which is typically interpreted
as "error code" -- thus zero => no error. This is a convention,
though, so programs don't have to stick to that.

The more official name is "exit code", and each civilised manual
page will have a section on these.

See f.ex. man curl(1) for one very extensive specimen.

So it won't come as a surprise that the shell, which was born to
invoke programs (and to react to their diverse (mis-)adventures)
interprets an exit code of zero as "OK", "all went well" and
so on -- while interpreting everything else as "uh-oh, perhaps
tell the user that something went wrong".

This convention mirrors the one found in the "classical" C
programming style.

Cheers
-- tomás

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Salsa vs Github Paul Sutton <zleap@disroot.org> - 2019-05-16 18:00 +0200
  Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-16 18:40 +0200
    please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Mark Allums <mark@allums.email> - 2019-05-17 09:10 +0200
      Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-17 09:40 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-17 10:40 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Paul Sutton <zleap@disroot.org> - 2019-05-17 11:00 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Mark Allums <mark@allums.email> - 2019-05-17 10:40 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org> - 2019-05-18 05:50 +0200
            Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-18 09:40 +0200
            Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Mark Allums <mark@allums.email> - 2019-05-18 09:40 +0200
              Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-18 10:30 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa  vs Github Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> - 2019-05-18 13:00 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-18 15:20 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa  vs Github Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> - 2019-05-18 15:40 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-18 15:50 +0200
                Off topic: non zero error codes Erik Josefsson <erik.hjalmar.josefsson@gmail.com> - 2019-05-19 07:30 +0200
                Re: Off topic: non zero error codes Linux-Fan <Ma_Sys.ma@web.de> - 2019-05-19 14:00 +0200
                Re: Off topic: non zero error codes <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-19 14:10 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2019-05-18 16:40 +0200
              Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org> - 2019-05-19 03:10 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-17 18:00 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa  vs Github arne <sp113438@telfort.nl> - 2019-05-18 01:40 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github rhkramer@gmail.com - 2019-05-17 18:00 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-17 18:30 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Alessandro Vesely <vesely@tana.it> - 2019-05-18 10:50 +0200
            Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-18 11:00 +0200
              Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-05-18 11:30 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Aidan Gauland <aidalgol@fastmail.net> - 2019-05-18 00:30 +0200
          Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-18 01:10 +0200
            Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Aidan Gauland <aidalgol@fastmail.net> - 2019-05-18 07:40 +0200
              Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2019-05-18 08:10 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs Github Dominik George <natureshadow@debian.org> - 2019-05-18 10:40 +0200
                Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa  vs Github Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-05-18 10:40 +0200
        Re: please do *never* use GitHub for free software, was Re: Salsa vs  Github Rob van der Putten <rob@sput.nl> - 2019-05-18 11:20 +0200
  Re: Salsa vs Github Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2019-05-17 11:30 +0200
    Re: Salsa vs Github Paul Sutton <zleap@disroot.org> - 2019-05-17 11:50 +0200
      Re: Salsa vs Github john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2019-05-17 12:00 +0200
        Re: Salsa vs Github Nate Bargmann <n0nb@n0nb.us> - 2019-05-17 14:20 +0200

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