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.\" 28.Dd March 31, 1996 29.Dt SYSEXITS 3 30.Os 31.Sh NAME 32.Nm sysexits 33.Nd preferable exit codes for programs 34.Sh SYNOPSIS 35.In sysexits.h 36.Sh DESCRIPTION 37According to 38.Xr style 9 , 39it is not a good practice to call 40.Xr exit 3 41with arbitrary values to indicate a failure condition when ending 42a program. Instead, 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.Dv EX_OK . 49Error numbers begin at 50.Dv EX__BASE 51to reduce the possibility of clashing with other exit statuses that 52random programs may already return. The meaning of the codes is 53approximately as follows: 54.Bl -tag -width "EX_UNAVAILABLEXX(XX)" 55.It Dv EX_USAGE Pq 64 56The command was used incorrectly, e.g., with the wrong number of 57arguments, a bad flag, a bad syntax in a parameter, or whatever. 58.It Dv EX_DATAERR Pq 65 59The input data was incorrect in some way. This should only be used 60for user's data and not system files. 61.It Dv EX_NOINPUT Pq 66 62An input file (not a system file) did not exist or was not readable. 63This could also include errors like 64.Dq \&No message 65to a mailer (if it cared to catch it). 66.It Dv EX_NOUSER Pq 67 67The user specified did not exist. This might be used for mail 68addresses or remote logins. 69.It Dv EX_NOHOST Pq 68 70The host specified did not exist. This is used in mail addresses or 71network requests. 72.It Dv EX_UNAVAILABLE Pq 69 73A service is unavailable. This can occur if a support program or file 74does not exist. This can also be used as a catchall message when 75something you wanted to do doesn't work, but you don't know why. 76.It Dv EX_SOFTWARE Pq 70 77An internal software error has been detected. This should be limited 78to non-operating system related errors as possible. 79.It Dv EX_OSERR Pq 71 80An operating system error has been detected. This is intended to be 81used for such things as 82.Dq cannot fork , 83.Dq cannot create pipe , 84or the like. It includes things like getuid returning a user that 85does not exist in the passwd file. 86.It Dv EX_OSFILE Pq 72 87Some system file (e.g., 88.Pa /etc/passwd , 89.Pa /var/run/utmp , 90etc.) does not exist, cannot be opened, or has some sort of error 91(e.g., syntax error). 92.It Dv EX_CANTCREAT Pq 73 93A (user specified) output file cannot be created. 94.It Dv EX_IOERR Pq 74 95An error occurred while doing I/O on some file. 96.It Dv EX_TEMPFAIL Pq 75 97Temporary failure, indicating something that is not really an error. 98In sendmail, this means that a mailer (e.g.) could not create a 99connection, and the request should be reattempted later. 100.It Dv EX_PROTOCOL Pq 76 101The remote system returned something that was 102.Dq not possible 103during a protocol exchange. 104.It Dv EX_NOPERM Pq 77 105You did not have sufficient permission to perform the operation. This 106is not intended for file system problems, which should use 107.Dv EX_NOINPUT 108or 109.Dv EX_CANTCREAT , 110but rather for higher level permissions. 111.It Dv EX_CONFIG Pq 78 112Something was found in an unconfigured or misconfigured state. 113.El 114.Pp 115The numerical values corresponding to the symbolical ones are given in 116parenthesis for easy reference. 117.Sh SEE ALSO 118.Xr exit 3 , 119.Xr style 9 120.Sh HISTORY 121The 122.Nm 123file appeared somewhere after 124.Bx 4.3 . 125.Sh AUTHORS 126This man page has been written by 127.An J\(:org Wunsch 128after the comments in 129.In sysexits.h . 130.Sh BUGS 131The choice of an appropriate exit value is often ambiguous. 132