Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!decvax!ucbvax!husc6!rutgers!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Confusing documentation about system(3) in 4.3BSD?
Message-ID: <3163@phri.UUCP>
Date: 28 Feb 88 04:19:16 GMT
References: <3161@phri.UUCP> <18390@topaz.rutgers.edu>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 13
Keywords: exit status

ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) writes:
> You're confusing shell exit status (to itself) and the process
> exit status available to C programs (via wait).

	The point is, if you read the man pages (including wait(2)), you can't
help but get confused.  Why?  Because there are two different things being
discussed (shell-type exit codes where the argument to exit(2) is available
directly and wait-type exit codes where the argument to exit(2) is up-shifted
a byte) but the same terms are used haphazardly to refer to either or both.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016