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: src/share/man/man3/sysexits.3,v 1.5.2.3 2001/12/17 11:30:11 ru Exp $ 27.\" $DragonFly: src/share/man/man3/sysexits.3,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:36:58 dillon Exp $ 28.\" 29.\" " 30.Dd March 31, 1996 31.Os 32.Dt SYSEXITS 3 33.Sh NAME 34.Nm sysexits 35.Nd preferable exit codes for programs 36.Sh SYNOPSIS 37.In sysexits.h 38.Sh DESCRIPTION 39According to 40.Xr style 9 , 41it is not a good practice to call 42.Xr exit 3 43with arbitrary values to indicate a failure condition when ending 44a program. Instead, 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. The meaning of the codes is 55approximately as follows: 56.Bl -tag -width "EX_UNAVAILABLEXX(XX)" 57.It Sy EX_USAGE Pq 64 58The command was used incorrectly, e.g., with the wrong number of 59arguments, a bad flag, a bad syntax in a parameter, or whatever. 60.It Sy EX_DATAERR Pq 65 61The input data was incorrect in some way. This 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. This might be used for mail 70addresses or remote logins. 71.It Sy EX_NOHOST Pq 68 72The host specified did not exist. This is used in mail addresses or 73network requests. 74.It Sy EX_UNAVAILABLE Pq 69 75A service is unavailable. This can occur if a support program or file 76does not exist. This can also be used as a catchall message when 77something you wanted to do doesn't work, but you don't know why. 78.It Sy EX_SOFTWARE Pq 70 79An internal software error has been detected. This should be limited 80to non-operating system related errors as possible. 81.It Sy EX_OSERR Pq 71 82An operating system error has been detected. This is intended to be 83used for such things as 84.Dq cannot fork , 85.Dq cannot create pipe , 86or the like. It includes things like getuid returning a user that 87does not exist in the passwd file. 88.It Sy EX_OSFILE Pq 72 89Some system file (e.g., 90.Pa /etc/passwd , 91.Pa /var/run/utmp , 92etc.) does not exist, cannot be opened, or has some sort of error 93(e.g., syntax error). 94.It Sy EX_CANTCREAT Pq 73 95A (user specified) output file cannot be created. 96.It Sy EX_IOERR Pq 74 97An error occurred while doing I/O on some file. 98.It Sy EX_TEMPFAIL Pq 75 99Temporary failure, indicating something that is not really an error. 100In sendmail, this means that a mailer (e.g.) could not create a 101connection, and the request should be reattempted later. 102.It Sy EX_PROTOCOL Pq 76 103The remote system returned something that was 104.Dq not possible 105during a protocol exchange. 106.It Sy EX_NOPERM Pq 77 107You did not have sufficient permission to perform the operation. This 108is not intended for file system problems, which should use 109.Sy EX_NOINPUT 110or 111.Sy EX_CANTCREAT , 112but rather for higher level permissions. 113.It Sy EX_CONFIG Pq 78 114Something was found in an unconfigured or misconfigured state. 115.El 116.Pp 117The numerical values corresponding to the symbolical ones are given in 118parenthesis for easy reference. 119.Sh SEE ALSO 120.Xr exit 3 , 121.Xr style 9 122.Sh HISTORY 123The 124.Nm 125file appeared somewhere after 126.Bx 4.3 . 127.Sh AUTHORS 128This man page has been written by 129.An J\(:org Wunsch 130after the comments in 131.Pa <sysexits.h> . 132.Sh BUGS 133The choice of an appropriate exit value is often ambiguous. 134