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88155
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1 ttn 2004-05-09
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2
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3 The exit value of a program returning to the shell on unixoid systems is
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4 typically 0 for success, and non-0 (such as 1) for failure. For vms it is
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5 odd (1,3,5...) for success, even (0,2,4...) for failure.
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6
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7 This holds from the point of view of the "shell" (in quotes because vms has a
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8 different dispatch model that is not explained further here).
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9
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10 From the point of view of the program, nowadays stdlib.h on both type of
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11 systems provides macros `EXIT_SUCCESS' and `EXIT_FAILURE' that should DTRT.
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12
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13 NB: The numerical values of these macros DO NOT need to fulfill the the exit
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14 value requirements outlined in the first paragraph! That is the job of the
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15 `exit' function. Thus, this kind of construct shows misunderstanding:
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16
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17 #ifdef VMS
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18 exit (1);
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19 #else
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20 exit (0);
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21 #endif
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22
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23 Values aside from EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE are tricky.
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24
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25
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26
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27 ttn 2004-05-12
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28
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29 Values aside from EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE can be used to indicate
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30 finer gradations of failure. If this is the only information available
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31 to the caller, clamping such values to EXIT_FAILURE loses information.
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32 If there are other ways to indicate the problem to the caller (such as
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33 a message to stderr) it may be ok to clamp. In all cases, it is the
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34 relationship between the program and its caller that must be examined.
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35 [Insert ZAMM quote here.]
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