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.\" $FreeBSD$ 27.\" 28.\" " 29.Dd March 31, 1996 30.Os 31.Dt SYSEXITS 3 32.Sh NAME 33.Nm sysexits 34.Nd preferable exit codes for programs 35.Sh SYNOPSIS 36.In sysexits.h 37.Sh DESCRIPTION 38According to 39.Xr style 9 , 40it is not a good practice to call 41.Xr exit 3 42with arbitrary values to indicate a failure condition when ending 43a program. Instead, the pre-defined exit codes from 44.Nm 45should be used, so the caller of the process can get a rough 46estimation about the failure class without looking up the source code. 47.Pp 48The successful exit is always indicated by a status of 0, or 49.Sy EX_OK . 50Error numbers begin at 51.Sy EX__BASE 52to reduce the possibility of clashing with other exit statuses that 53random programs may already return. The 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. This should only be used 61for user's data and not system files. 62.It Sy EX_NOINPUT Pq 66 63An input file (not a system file) did not exist or was not readable. 64This could also include errors like 65.Dq \&No message 66to a mailer (if it cared to catch it). 67.It Sy EX_NOUSER Pq 67 68The user specified did not exist. This might be used for mail 69addresses or remote logins. 70.It Sy EX_NOHOST Pq 68 71The host specified did not exist. This is used in mail addresses or 72network requests. 73.It Sy EX_UNAVAILABLE Pq 69 74A service is unavailable. This can occur if a support program or file 75does not exist. This can also be used as a catchall message when 76something you wanted to do doesn't work, but you don't know why. 77.It Sy EX_SOFTWARE Pq 70 78An internal software error has been detected. This should be limited 79to non-operating system related errors as possible. 80.It Sy EX_OSERR Pq 71 81An operating system error has been detected. This is intended to be 82used for such things as 83.Dq cannot fork , 84.Dq cannot create pipe , 85or the like. It includes things like getuid returning a user that 86does not exist in the passwd file. 87.It Sy EX_OSFILE Pq 72 88Some system file (e.g., 89.Pa /etc/passwd , 90.Pa /var/run/utmp , 91etc.) does not exist, cannot be opened, or has some sort of error 92(e.g., syntax error). 93.It Sy EX_CANTCREAT Pq 73 94A (user specified) output file cannot be created. 95.It Sy EX_IOERR Pq 74 96An error occurred while doing I/O on some file. 97.It Sy EX_TEMPFAIL Pq 75 98Temporary failure, indicating something that is not really an error. 99In sendmail, this means that a mailer (e.g.) could not create a 100connection, and the request should be reattempted later. 101.It Sy EX_PROTOCOL Pq 76 102The remote system returned something that was 103.Dq not possible 104during a protocol exchange. 105.It Sy EX_NOPERM Pq 77 106You did not have sufficient permission to perform the operation. This 107is not intended for filesystem problems, which should use 108.Sy EX_NOINPUT 109or 110.Sy EX_CANTCREAT , 111but rather for higher level permissions. 112.It Sy EX_CONFIG Pq 78 113Something was found in an unconfigured or misconfigured state. 114.El 115.Pp 116The numerical values corresponding to the symbolical ones are given in 117parenthesis for easy reference. 118.Sh SEE ALSO 119.Xr exit 3 , 120.Xr style 9 121.Sh HISTORY 122The 123.Nm 124file appeared somewhere after 125.Bx 4.3 . 126.Sh AUTHORS 127This man page has been written by 128.An J\(:org Wunsch 129after the comments in 130.Pa <sysexits.h> . 131.Sh BUGS 132The choice of an appropriate exit value is often ambiguous. 133