[1220] in Athena Bugs
(VS2) generic 4.3BSD: sysexits.h conflicts with errno.h
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark W. Eichin)
Sun Oct 23 05:01:03 1988
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 88 05:00:43 EDT
From: Mark W. Eichin <eichin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
To: bugs@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
System type, version: (VS2) Version 6.0C
System name: oliver
What's wrong:
Starting with a section of <errno.h> labeled ``/* should be rearranged
*/'' are errno values which are 64 through 75.
EX__BASE, in <sysexits.h>, is 64, and values here go up to 77. The
file is dated 7/31/83; it is likely that it predates the codes at the
end of <errno.h>.
The types of errors described in both are different, though a program
could reasonably have both; errno codes are low level, while sysexit
codes are high level.
What should have happened:
<sysexits.h> isn't used for much... perhaps it should be hinted to
Berkeley that the EX__BASE be moved up to 128, or better yet, the
codes there be included in <errno.h>. [We should of course be using
com_err instead :-] Likewise, it would be nice for <errno.h> to
contain a broader (ie. more interesting) set of codes; this would
allow programs to provide consistent error returns over a broader
range of failures types.
Mark Eichin
<eichin@athena.mit.edu>
SIPB Member & Project Athena ``Watchmaker''
