> Am 20.03.2025 um 21:50 schrieb James K. Lowden: >> On Mar 13, 2025, at 8:04 AM, Simon Sobisch <simonsobi...@gnu.org> wrote: >>> >>> exit() allows us to "pass to the operating system" directly; but it doesn't >>> directly say "success" or "fail". >>> >>> >>> Obviously the statements >>> STOP RUN WITH NORMAL STATUS 41 >>> and >>> STOP RUN ERROR 41 >>> >>> Should have a different result for the operating system. >> Or, obviously not. >> For OSes I'm familiar with, there is no *definition* of >> success/failure. There's just convention: 0 is success and nonzero >> failure. Even that is honored in the breach, see diff(1). >> IMO unless the OS defines success/failure outside the value of the >> exit status value (above, 41), the COBOL compiler cannot supply >> meaning to STOP RUN NORMAL or ERROR. It has no meaning in COBOL >> because it has no meaning outside COBOL. >> By that reasoning, the two statements above both return 41 because >> there is no way to say more. It is for the caller to decide what to >> do. >> I do not think -41 is an option; the compiler should not make >> arbitrary changes to the user's data. >> It is temping to raise(SIG_TERM) for error, but again the 41 is >> lost. >> >>> STOP RUN WITH ERROR "Don't do that, Jon!" >> When no numeric value is supplied, IMO: >> • STOP RUN WITH NORMAL STATUS becomes exit(EXIT_SUCCESS) >> • STOP RUN WITH ERROR becomes exit(EXIT_FAILURE) >> That satisfies the Principle of Least Astonishment. BTW those >> values are defined by C, not POSIX. >> --jkl > > > I agree that this could be a reasonable approach: > * STOP RUN WITH NORMAL STATUS becomes exit(EXIT_SUCCESS) > * STOP RUN WITH ERROR becomes exit(EXIT_FAILURE) > * Any text given goes to an internal DISPLAY (_possibly_ WITH ERROR > doing a DISPLAY UPON SYSERR) > > If I'd not now that "some heavy business applications" actually pass > the error using specific values (one for deadlock, another for general > db issues, one for logic issues, ...) I'd say "screw the numbers - > just DISPLAY them".
So: STOP RUN EXIT PROGRAM should: exit (EXIT_SUCCESS). Then: STOP RUN WITH NORMAL STATUS <number> should: fprintf (stderr, "STOPPED WITH NORMAL STATUS %d", number); exit (EXIT_SUCCESS); Then: STOP RUN WITH ERROR STATUS <number> should: fprintf (stderr, "STOPPED WITH ERROR STATUS %d", number); exit (EXIT_FAILURE); ? > But a combined option would be possible as well: > > * output a text of "STOP ... WITH ERROR" is then noted by still doing > exit(number_given_if_none_then_EXIT_FAILURE), but always after an > internal DISPLAY "STOP WITH ERROR[ nr][: message]" UPON SYSERR" > * output a text of "STOP ... WITH NORMAL STATUS" is then noted by > still doing exit(number_given_if_none_then_EXIT_SUCCESS), > and (possibly only in case of a text or number given) an internal > DISPLAY "STOP WITH NORMAL STATUS[ nr][: message]" UPON SYSOUT" > > Opinions?
