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authorOndřej Vašík <ovasik@redhat.com>2008-10-09 10:56:54 +0200
committerJim Meyering <meyering@redhat.com>2008-10-13 09:01:54 +0200
commit7377f49ea807562816ba027030b3ec90958d0819 (patch)
treeec28b099957069063c1f7473508648f3ebc35599
parent969841cb77fe2fc95959eb740809547b29381bd8 (diff)
downloadcoreutils-7377f49ea807562816ba027030b3ec90958d0819.tar.xz
doc: ls: clarify exit status description
* src/ls.c (exit_status): Clarify comments. (usage): Clarify exit status description in --help output. * doc/coreutils.texi (ls invocation): Clarify exit status documentation Reported by Greg Metcalfe in <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/446294>.
-rw-r--r--THANKS1
-rw-r--r--doc/coreutils.texi7
-rw-r--r--src/ls.c16
3 files changed, 18 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index e6e48b384..d06f755a0 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ Guochun Shi gshi@ncsa.uiuc.edu
GOTO Masanori gotom@debian.or.jp
Greg Louis glouis@dynamicro.on.ca
Greg McGary gkm@gnu.org
+Greg Metcalfe metcalfegreg@qwest.net
Greg Schafer gschafer@zip.com.au
Greg Troxel gdt@bbn.com
Greg Wooledge gawooledge@sherwin.com
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index a0d220263..b7e044d90 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -6073,8 +6073,11 @@ Exit status:
@display
0 success
-1 minor problems (e.g., a subdirectory was not found)
-2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted)
+1 minor problems (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not
+ specified as a command line argument. This happens when listing a
+ directory in which entries are actively being removed or renamed.)
+2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure
+ to access file or directory specified as a command line argument)
@end display
Also see @ref{Common options}.
diff --git a/src/ls.c b/src/ls.c
index e107162ef..ad33acc05 100644
--- a/src/ls.c
+++ b/src/ls.c
@@ -715,11 +715,14 @@ static int exit_status;
/* Exit statuses. */
enum
{
- /* "ls" had a minor problem (e.g., it could not stat a directory
- entry). */
+ /* "ls" had a minor problem. E.g., while processing a directory,
+ ls obtained the name of an entry via readdir, yet was later
+ unable to stat that name. This happens when listing a directory
+ in which entries are actively being removed or renamed. */
LS_MINOR_PROBLEM = 1,
- /* "ls" had more serious trouble. */
+ /* "ls" had more serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid
+ option or failure to stat a command line argument. */
LS_FAILURE = 2
};
@@ -4527,7 +4530,12 @@ colors, and can be set easily by the dircolors command.\n\
"), stdout);
fputs (_("\
\n\
-Exit status is 0 if OK, 1 if minor problems, 2 if serious trouble.\n\
+Exit status:\n\
+0 if OK,\n\
+1 if minor problems (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not\n\
+ specified as a command line argument\n\
+2 if serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure\n\
+ to access a file or directory specified as a command line argument).\n\
"), stdout);
emit_bug_reporting_address ();
}