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Re: [PATCH] : ls: clarify documentation of exit statuses
From: |
Jim Meyering |
Subject: |
Re: [PATCH] : ls: clarify documentation of exit statuses |
Date: |
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:54:31 +0200 |
Ondřej Vašík <address@hidden> wrote:
> as reported in rh bz#446294 , ls is not very clear with it's exit status
> documentation. This patch should clarify it a bit.
Re: <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnu.coreutils.bugs/14764>
Thanks, Ondřej. I've reworded things to be more accurate,
mentioned Greg and the buzilla URL in the commit log,
and added Greg's name/email to THANKS:
>From 50654566c77d1335870206f657507a2d1c23f628 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?utf-8?q?Ond=C5=99ej=20Va=C5=A1=C3=ADk?= <address@hidden>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:56:54 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] doc: ls: clarify exit status description
* src/ls.c (exit_status): Clarify comments.
(usage): Clarify exit status description in --help output.
* doc/coreutils.texi (ls invocation): Clarify exit status documentation
Reported by Greg Metcalfe in <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/446294>.
---
THANKS | 1 +
doc/coreutils.texi | 7 +++++--
src/ls.c | 16 ++++++++++++----
3 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index e6e48b3..d06f755 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ Guochun Shi address@hidden
GOTO Masanori address@hidden
Greg Louis address@hidden
Greg McGary address@hidden
+Greg Metcalfe address@hidden
Greg Schafer address@hidden
Greg Troxel address@hidden
Greg Wooledge address@hidden
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index a0d2202..b7e044d 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -6073,8 +6073,11 @@ ls invocation
@display
0 success
-1 minor problems (e.g., a subdirectory was not found)
-2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted)
+1 minor problems (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not
+ specified as a command line argument. This happens when listing a
+ directory in which entries are actively being removed or renamed.)
+2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure
+ to access file or directory specified as a command line argument)
@end display
Also see @ref{Common options}.
diff --git a/src/ls.c b/src/ls.c
index e107162..108d669 100644
--- a/src/ls.c
+++ b/src/ls.c
@@ -715,11 +715,14 @@ static int exit_status;
/* Exit statuses. */
enum
{
- /* "ls" had a minor problem (e.g., it could not stat a directory
- entry). */
+ /* "ls" had a minor problem. E.g., while processing a directory,
+ ls obtained the name of an entry via readdir, yet was later
+ unable to stat that name. This happens when listing a directory
+ in which entries are actively being removed or renamed. */
LS_MINOR_PROBLEM = 1,
- /* "ls" had more serious trouble. */
+ /* "ls" had more serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid
+ option or failure to stat a command line argument. */
LS_FAILURE = 2
};
@@ -4527,7 +4530,12 @@ colors, and can be set easily by the dircolors
command.\n\
"), stdout);
fputs (_("\
\n\
-Exit status is 0 if OK, 1 if minor problems, 2 if serious trouble.\n\
+Exit status:\n\
+0 if OK,
+1 if minor problems (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not\n\
+ specified as a command line argument\n\
+2 if serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure\n\
+ to access a file or directory specified as a command line argument).\n\
"), stdout);
emit_bug_reporting_address ();
}
--
1.6.0.2.514.g23abd3