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 January 21, 2010 30.Dt SYSEXITS 3 31.Os 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. 44Instead, the pre-defined exit codes from 45.Nm 46should be used, so the caller of the process can get a rough 47estimation about the failure class without looking up the source code. 48.Pp 49The successful exit is always indicated by a status of 0, or 50.Sy EX_OK . 51Error numbers begin at 52.Sy EX__BASE 53to reduce the possibility of clashing with other exit statuses that 54random programs may already return. 55The meaning of the codes is 56approximately as follows: 57.Bl -tag -width "EX_UNAVAILABLEXX(XX)" 58.It Sy EX_USAGE Pq 64 59The command was used incorrectly, e.g., with the wrong number of 60arguments, a bad flag, a bad syntax in a parameter, or whatever. 61.It Sy EX_DATAERR Pq 65 62The input data was incorrect in some way. 63This should only be used 64for user's data and not system files. 65.It Sy EX_NOINPUT Pq 66 66An input file (not a system file) did not exist or was not readable. 67This could also include errors like 68.Dq \&No message 69to a mailer (if it cared to catch it). 70.It Sy EX_NOUSER Pq 67 71The user specified did not exist. 72This might be used for mail 73addresses or remote logins. 74.It Sy EX_NOHOST Pq 68 75The host specified did not exist. 76This is used in mail addresses or 77network requests. 78.It Sy EX_UNAVAILABLE Pq 69 79A service is unavailable. 80This can occur if a support program or file 81does not exist. 82This can also be used as a catchall message when 83something you wanted to do does not work, but you do not know why. 84.It Sy EX_SOFTWARE Pq 70 85An internal software error has been detected. 86This should be limited 87to non-operating system related errors as possible. 88.It Sy EX_OSERR Pq 71 89An operating system error has been detected. 90This is intended to be 91used for such things as 92.Dq cannot fork , 93.Dq cannot create pipe , 94or the like. 95It includes things like getuid returning a user that 96does not exist in the passwd file. 97.It Sy EX_OSFILE Pq 72 98Some system file (e.g., 99.Pa /etc/passwd , 100.Pa /var/run/utx.active , 101etc.) does not exist, cannot be opened, or has some sort of error 102(e.g., syntax error). 103.It Sy EX_CANTCREAT Pq 73 104A (user specified) output file cannot be created. 105.It Sy EX_IOERR Pq 74 106An error occurred while doing I/O on some file. 107.It Sy EX_TEMPFAIL Pq 75 108Temporary failure, indicating something that is not really an error. 109In sendmail, this means that a mailer (e.g.) could not create a 110connection, and the request should be reattempted later. 111.It Sy EX_PROTOCOL Pq 76 112The remote system returned something that was 113.Dq not possible 114during a protocol exchange. 115.It Sy EX_NOPERM Pq 77 116You did not have sufficient permission to perform the operation. 117This 118is not intended for file system problems, which should use 119.Sy EX_NOINPUT 120or 121.Sy EX_CANTCREAT , 122but rather for higher level permissions. 123.It Sy EX_CONFIG Pq 78 124Something was found in an unconfigured or misconfigured state. 125.El 126.Pp 127The numerical values corresponding to the symbolical ones are given in 128parenthesis for easy reference. 129.Sh SEE ALSO 130.Xr err 3 , 131.Xr exit 3 , 132.Xr style 9 133.Sh HISTORY 134The 135.Nm 136file appeared somewhere after 137.Bx 4.3 . 138.Sh AUTHORS 139This manual page was written by 140.An J\(:org Wunsch 141after the comments in 142.In sysexits.h . 143.Sh BUGS 144The choice of an appropriate exit value is often ambiguous. 145