[FFmpeg-trac] #7937(documentation:closed): no explanation of return value of ffmpeg

[FFmpeg]

#7937: no explanation of return value of ffmpeg
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             Reporter:  sgerwk       |                    Owner:
                 Type:  defect       |                   Status:  closed
             Priority:  minor        |                Component:
                                     |  documentation
              Version:  git-master   |               Resolution:  invalid
             Keywords:               |               Blocked By:
             Blocking:               |  Reproduced by developer:  0
Analyzed by developer:  0            |
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Changes (by sgerwk):

 * cc: sgerwk@… (added)


Comment:

 I believe this very comment would be just fine for documenting the exit
 status.

 Let me explain my point of view. I wrote a script using ffmpeg to get a
 file from the Internet. This may fail or not, and the obvious thing to
 check is the exit status of ffmpeg. I was I bit surprised to see that the
 exit status was not always the same, yet no explanation was given in the
 man pages. Even basic commands like ls(1) and find(1) have a short
 paragraph explaining the obvious like 0=ok otherwise=fail. Lacking that, I
 would have resorted to the current behaviour of ffmpeg, and I would have
 been wrong as you pointed out. That would have been avoided by a paragraph
 in ffmpeg-all(1):

 EXIT STATUS

 The exit status of ffmpeg is 0 if the command completed successfully and
 different from zero otherwise. Avoid relying on specific values in the
 latter case as they are subject to change.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.ffmpeg.org/ticket/7937#comment:5>
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