'exit(1);' considered useless (slight flame)

[Gordon Moffett]

As a maintainer and supporter of existing software, I am getting
tired of programs whose terminating action is:

	exit(1);

A typical application is:

	p = malloc(n);
	if (p == NULL) {
		exit(1);
	}

Bad enough that the original programmer didn't code for an error message,
but furthermore was content to just provide a `non-zero' error code.

In intro(2) of volume 1 of the Unix manual set are described the various
error codes returned by system calls and subroutines.  There is an
external variable (int) called `errno' where these error codes are
stored when applicable.  So, programmers, please use:

	exit(errno);

... whenever possible, so I don't have to recode it for you.

It is useful to reference the exit status of a command and have it
provide more meaningful information that just a non-zero value.

Thank you.

SEE ALSO
	perror(3)
	"lint vs. strong typing - programmers' responsibitly", Usenet:
		net.lang
-- 
Gordon A. Moffett
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