1.\" 2.\" Copyright (c) 1996 Joerg Wunsch 3.\" 4.\" All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 15.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DEVELOPERS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR 16.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES 17.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. 18.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DEVELOPERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, 19.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT 20.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, 21.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY 22.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT 23.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF 24.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 25.\" 26.\" " 27.Dd January 21, 2010 28.Dt SYSEXITS 3 29.Os 30.Sh NAME 31.Nm sysexits 32.Nd preferable exit codes for programs 33.Sh SYNOPSIS 34.In sysexits.h 35.Sh DESCRIPTION 36According to 37.Xr style 9 , 38it is not a good practice to call 39.Xr exit 3 40with arbitrary values to indicate a failure condition when ending 41a program. 42Instead, the pre-defined exit codes from 43.Nm 44should be used, so the caller of the process can get a rough 45estimation about the failure class without looking up the source code. 46.Pp 47The successful exit is always indicated by a status of 0, or 48.Sy EX_OK . 49Error numbers begin at 50.Sy EX__BASE 51to reduce the possibility of clashing with other exit statuses that 52random programs may already return. 53The meaning of the codes is 54approximately as follows: 55.Bl -tag -width "EX_UNAVAILABLEXX(XX)" 56.It Sy EX_USAGE Pq 64 57The command was used incorrectly, e.g., with the wrong number of 58arguments, a bad flag, a bad syntax in a parameter, or whatever. 59.It Sy EX_DATAERR Pq 65 60The input data was incorrect in some way. 61This should only be used 62for user's data and not system files. 63.It Sy EX_NOINPUT Pq 66 64An input file (not a system file) did not exist or was not readable. 65This could also include errors like 66.Dq \&No message 67to a mailer (if it cared to catch it). 68.It Sy EX_NOUSER Pq 67 69The user specified did not exist. 70This might be used for mail 71addresses or remote logins. 72.It Sy EX_NOHOST Pq 68 73The host specified did not exist. 74This is used in mail addresses or 75network requests. 76.It Sy EX_UNAVAILABLE Pq 69 77A service is unavailable. 78This can occur if a support program or file 79does not exist. 80This can also be used as a catchall message when 81something you wanted to do does not work, but you do not know why. 82.It Sy EX_SOFTWARE Pq 70 83An internal software error has been detected. 84This should be limited 85to non-operating system related errors as possible. 86.It Sy EX_OSERR Pq 71 87An operating system error has been detected. 88This is intended to be 89used for such things as 90.Dq cannot fork , 91.Dq cannot create pipe , 92or the like. 93It includes things like getuid returning a user that 94does not exist in the passwd file. 95.It Sy EX_OSFILE Pq 72 96Some system file (e.g., 97.Pa /etc/passwd , 98.Pa /var/run/utx.active , 99etc.) does not exist, cannot be opened, or has some sort of error 100(e.g., syntax error). 101.It Sy EX_CANTCREAT Pq 73 102A (user specified) output file cannot be created. 103.It Sy EX_IOERR Pq 74 104An error occurred while doing I/O on some file. 105.It Sy EX_TEMPFAIL Pq 75 106Temporary failure, indicating something that is not really an error. 107In sendmail, this means that a mailer (e.g.) could not create a 108connection, and the request should be reattempted later. 109.It Sy EX_PROTOCOL Pq 76 110The remote system returned something that was 111.Dq not possible 112during a protocol exchange. 113.It Sy EX_NOPERM Pq 77 114You did not have sufficient permission to perform the operation. 115This 116is not intended for file system problems, which should use 117.Sy EX_NOINPUT 118or 119.Sy EX_CANTCREAT , 120but rather for higher level permissions. 121.It Sy EX_CONFIG Pq 78 122Something was found in an unconfigured or misconfigured state. 123.El 124.Pp 125The numerical values corresponding to the symbolical ones are given in 126parenthesis for easy reference. 127.Sh SEE ALSO 128.Xr err 3 , 129.Xr exit 3 , 130.Xr style 9 131.Sh HISTORY 132The 133.Nm 134file appeared somewhere after 135.Bx 4.3 . 136.Sh AUTHORS 137This manual page was written by 138.An J\(:org Wunsch 139after the comments in 140.In sysexits.h . 141.Sh BUGS 142The choice of an appropriate exit value is often ambiguous. 143