0000882: meaning of "utility syntax error" unclear

ID	Project	Category	View Status	Date Submitted	Last Update

0000882	1003.1(2013)/Issue7+TC1	Shell and Utilities	public	2014-10-12 20:44	2019-06-10 08:54

Reporter	rhansen	Assigned To
Priority	normal	Severity	Editorial	Type	Clarification Requested
Status	Closed	Resolution	Accepted As Marked

Name	Richard Hansen
Organization	BBN
User Reference
Section	2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors
Page Number	2337
Line Number	74290
Interp Status	Approved
Final Accepted Text	See 0000882:0002528 and 0000882:0002606


Summary	0000882: meaning of "utility syntax error" unclear
Description	The table listing the consequences of shell errors contains an entry for "Utility syntax error (option or operand error)". It's not entirely clear what this means. For example, is 'set -o some_unknown_option' considered to be a "utility syntax error"? I wouldn't consider it to be a syntax error, though I would consider it to be an option/operand error. It's certainly not a syntax error in the same sense as 'eval "{"'. See: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.standards.posix.austin.general/9907/focus=9934
Desired Action	(to be added later; I just wanted to file this bug report so that we don't forget about this issue that was raised in the email thread)
Tags	tc2-2008

rhansen 2015-01-22 17:33 manager bugnote:0002527	On page 2337 lines 74285-74287 (XCU 2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors), change: For a non-interactive shell, an error condition encountered by a special built-in (see Section 2.14) or other type of utility shall cause the shell to write a diagnostic message to standard error and exit as shown in the following table: to: Certain errors shall cause the shell to write a diagnostic message to standard error and exit as shown in the following table: On page 2337 lines 74288-74295 (XCU 2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors table), change: Error \| Special Built-In \| Other Utilities ------------------------------------------------------------ Shell language syntax error \| Shall exit \| Shall exit Utility syntax error (option or operand error) \| Shall exit \| Shall not exit Redirection error \| Shall exit \| Shall not exit Variable assignment error \| Shall exit \| Shall not exit Expansion error \| Shall exit \| Shall exit Command not found \| N/A \| May exit Dot script not found \| Shall exit \| N/A to: Error \| Non-Interactive Shell \| Interactive Shell \| Shell Diagnostic Message Required ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shell language syntax error \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| yes Special built-in utility error \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| no(1) Other utility (not a special built-in) error \| shall not exit \| shall not exit \| no(2) Redirection error with special built-in utilities \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| yes Redirection error with compound commands \| may exit(3) \| shall not exit \| yes Redirection error with function execution \| may exit(3) \| shall not exit \| yes Redirection error with other utilities (not special built-ins) \| shall not exit \| shall not exit \| yes Variable assignment error \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| yes Expansion error \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| yes Command not found \| may exit \| shall not exit \| yes Notes: (1) Although special built-ins are part of the shell, a diagnostic message written by a special built-in is not considered to be a shell diagnostic message, and can be redirected like any other utility. (2) The shell is not required to write a diagnostic message, but the utility itself shall write a diagnostic message if required to do so. (3) A future version of this standard may require the shell to not exit in this condition. On page 2337 lines 74303-74304 (XCU 2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors), delete: In all of the cases shown in the table, an interactive shell shall write a diagnostic message to standard error without exiting. On page 2356 lines 75100-75104 (XCU 2.14 list item 1), change: A syntax error in a special built-in utility may cause a shell executing that utility to abort, while a syntax error in a regular built-in utility shall not cause a shell executing that utility to abort. (See Section 2.8.1 for the consequences of errors on interactive and non-interactive shells.) If a special built-in utility encountering a syntax error does not abort the shell, its exit value shall be non-zero. to: An error in a special built-in utility may cause a shell executing that utility to abort, while an error in a regular built-in utility shall not cause a shell executing that utility to abort. (See Section 2.8.1 for the consequences of errors on interactive and non-interactive shells.) If a special built-in utility encountering an error does not abort the shell, its exit value shall be non-zero.

Don Cragun 2015-01-22 17:54 manager bugnote:0002528	Interpretation response ------------------------ The standard is unclear on this issue, and no conformance distinction can be made between alternative implementations based on this. This is being referred to the sponsor. Rationale: ------------- The standard is unclear on what constitutes a "Shell Error". Notes to the Editor (not part of this interpretation): ------------------------------------------------------- Make the changes suggested in 0000882:0002527.

rhansen 2015-01-22 18:13 manager bugnote:0002529	Should the diagnostic message column for the "Special built-in utility error" case get both notes (1) and (2)? Special built-in utility error \| shall exit \| shall not exit \| no(1)(2)

ajosey 2015-02-20 12:12 manager bugnote:0002551	Just correction Interp status - prior to processing the current interps queue.

ajosey 2015-02-20 12:13 manager bugnote:0002555	Interpretation proposed 20 Feb 2015

ajosey 2015-03-23 12:08 manager bugnote:0002598	Interpretation approved 23rd March 2015

geoffclare 2015-03-26 15:17 manager bugnote:0002606	The change to remove the last sentence in XCU 2.8.1 conflicts with 0000717 which modifies the same text. The new aspects of that modified text should be retained. The following alternative change achieves this and the editors propose to include it in the TC2 draft: On page 2337 lines 74303-74304 (XCU 2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors), change: In all of the cases shown in the table, an interactive shell shall write a diagnostic message to standard error without exiting. to: In all of the cases shown in the table where an interactive shell is required not to exit, the shell shall not perform any further processing of the command in which the error occurred.

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	New Issue
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Name	=> Richard Hansen
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Organization	=> BBN
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Section	=> 2.8.1 Consequences of Shell Errors
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Page Number	=> 2337
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Line Number	=> 74290
2014-10-12 20:44	rhansen	Interp Status	=> ---
2015-01-22 17:33	rhansen	Note Added: 0002527
2015-01-22 17:51	rhansen	Relationship added	related to 0000913
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Interp Status	--- => Proposed
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Final Accepted Text	=> See 0000882:0002528.
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Note Added: 0002528
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Status	New => Interpretation Required
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Resolution	Open => Accepted As Marked
2015-01-22 17:54	Don Cragun	Tag Attached: tc2-2008
2015-01-22 18:07	rhansen	Relationship added	child of 0000914
2015-01-22 18:13	rhansen	Note Added: 0002529
2015-02-20 12:12	ajosey	Interp Status	Proposed => Pending
2015-02-20 12:12	ajosey	Note Added: 0002551
2015-02-20 12:13	ajosey	Interp Status	Pending => Proposed
2015-02-20 12:13	ajosey	Note Added: 0002555
2015-03-23 12:08	ajosey	Interp Status	Proposed => Approved
2015-03-23 12:08	ajosey	Note Added: 0002598
2015-03-25 12:37	geoffclare	Relationship added	related to 0000717
2015-03-26 15:17	geoffclare	Note Added: 0002606
2015-03-26 15:23	geoffclare	Final Accepted Text	See 0000882:0002528. => See 0000882:0002528 and 0000882:0002606
2015-06-18 17:23	eblake	Relationship added	related to 0000960
2019-06-10 08:54	agadmin	Status	Interpretation Required => Closed

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Issue History

related to	0000717	Closed	meaning of "the shell shall exit" in a subshell environment
related to	0000913	Closed	mention resource exhaustion as a possible source of errors for all utilities
related to	0000960	Closed	export can fail
child of	0000914	Closed	redirection error with function invocations or compound commands should not cause the shell to exit