From: Robert Elz
Subject: Re: Regression with subshells and set -e
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:07:24 +0700
>Lastly, just don't use -e .... Anyone who really understands shell
>programming will tell you to never touch the thing (and only if you
>understand that, and why, will you ever discover the very rare cases
>where it can safely be used).
This paragraph is obviously nonsense, taken at face value.
But in fact, properly interpreting it depends on two variables:
1) Are we talking about using -e as your primary (i.e., only)
method of error handling or are we talking about using it as "last
resort" - a handler for the truly unexpected?
2) Are we operating in the world of actual reality, or is our
orientation that of lecturing to newbies?
I would say that the only way your statement above makes any sense is
if you answered "primary/only" to the first question and "lecturing to
newbies" to the second.
I will leave it to you to work out the other 3 quadrants of the truth
table.
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