IO#popen and exit status

I'm a bit stuck with this porblem:
I need to write data to a process and then wait for the exit code of it to
see if it was successful or not.

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

e.g.

io = IO.popen(cmd, "w")
io.write(msg)
io.close
pid, status = Process.waitpid2(0)

Raises a "Errno::ECHILD: No child processes" exception.

How do other handle this situation? Do I need to take the hard road via
pipe, fork, exec or did I miss something obvious?

···

--
:wq Claudio

[snip]

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

The $? variable will hold the exit status of the last child to terminate.

andrew

···

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:20:36 +0900, Claudio Jeker <cjeker@diehard.n-r-g.com> wrote:

--
Andrew L. Johnson http://www.siaris.net/
      What have you done to the cat? It looks half-dead.
          -- Schroedinger's wife

gem install open4

-a

···

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, Claudio Jeker wrote:

I'm a bit stuck with this porblem:
I need to write data to a process and then wait for the exit code of it to
see if it was successful or not.

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

e.g.

io = IO.popen(cmd, "w")
io.write(msg)
io.close
pid, status = Process.waitpid2(0)

Raises a "Errno::ECHILD: No child processes" exception.

How do other handle this situation? Do I need to take the hard road via
pipe, fork, exec or did I miss something obvious?

--
share your knowledge. it's a way to achieve immortality.
- h.h. the 14th dali lama

In article <20060320162018.GG5960@diehard.n-r-g.com>,
  Claudio Jeker <cjeker@diehard.n-r-g.com> writes:

I'm a bit stuck with this porblem:
I need to write data to a process and then wait for the exit code of it to
see if it was successful or not.

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

$? can be used after close.

I hope this documentation helps.

Index: io.c

···

===================================================================
RCS file: /src/ruby/io.c,v
retrieving revision 1.246.2.97
diff -u -p -r1.246.2.97 io.c
--- io.c 14 Feb 2006 02:23:33 -0000 1.246.2.97
+++ io.c 28 Mar 2006 01:47:15 -0000
@@ -2149,6 +2149,9 @@ rb_io_close(io)
  * an <code>IOError</code> is raised if such an attempt is made. I/O
  * streams are automatically closed when they are claimed by the
  * garbage collector.
+ *
+ * If <em>ios</em> is opened by <code>IO.popen</code>,
+ * <code>close</code> sets <code>$?</code>.
  */

static VALUE
@@ -3062,7 +3065,9 @@ retry:
  *
  * If a block is given, Ruby will run the command as a child connected
  * to Ruby with a pipe. Ruby's end of the pipe will be passed as a
- * parameter to the block. In this case <code>IO::popen</code> returns
+ * parameter to the block.
+ * At the end of block, Ruby close the pipe and sets <code>$?</code>.
+ * In this case <code>IO::popen</code> returns
  * the value of the block.
  *
  * If a block is given with a <i>cmd_string</i> of ``<code>-</code>'',
@@ -3078,6 +3083,7 @@ retry:
  * puts "Parent is #{Process.pid}"
  * IO.popen ("date") { |f| puts f.gets }
  * IO.popen("-") {|f| $stderr.puts "#{Process.pid} is here, f is #{f}"}
+ * p $?
  *
  * <em>produces:</em>
  *
@@ -3086,6 +3092,7 @@ retry:
  * Wed Apr 9 08:53:52 CDT 2003
  * 26169 is here, f is
  * 26166 is here, f is #<IO:0x401b3d44>
+ * #<Process::Status: pid=26166,exited(0)>
  */

static VALUE
--
Tanaka Akira

Andrew Johnson wrote:

···

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:20:36 +0900, Claudio Jeker > <cjeker@diehard.n-r-g.com> wrote:

[snip]

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

The $? variable will hold the exit status of the last child to terminate.

andrew

$? does not work with popen, or open3. I am not sure why one would want to run a process, and monitor the output, yet not care what the exit status is? One would think that this oversite will be fixed in future releases.

~S

not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

$? can be used after close.

I hope this documentation helps.

Just so there is no confusion for others that run into this since google
brought me straight here, you can do:

a = IO.popen(process)
a.close
and $? will be set immediately after the call to close succeeds.

Process.waitpid is not necessary.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Actually I just solved this a few threads below. You can just run
Process.wait after you've done with the IO.popen and it should update
$? with the correct values.

···

On 3/22/06, Shea Martin <null@void.0> wrote:

Andrew Johnson wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:20:36 +0900, Claudio Jeker > > <cjeker@diehard.n-r-g.com> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>> Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
>> get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
>> not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.
>
> The $? variable will hold the exit status of the last child to terminate.
>
> andrew
>
$? does not work with popen, or open3. I am not sure why one would want
to run a process, and monitor the output, yet not care what the exit
status is? One would think that this oversite will be fixed in future
releases.

~S

Shea Martin wrote:

Andrew Johnson wrote:

[snip]

Now I can IO.popen the process but there is no pclose instance method to
get the exitcode back. Additionally my workaround via Process.waitpid2 does
not work either. I think io.close does already all the cleanup.

The $? variable will hold the exit status of the last child to terminate.

andrew

$? does not work with popen, or open3. I am not sure why one would want to run a process, and monitor the output, yet not care what the exit status is? One would think that this oversite will be fixed in future releases.

~S

ps - you can call Process.wait to update $?, but it is not reliable if your program is multi threaded.

···

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:20:36 +0900, Claudio Jeker >> <cjeker@diehard.n-r-g.com> wrote:

$? does not work with popen, or open3. I am not sure why one would want to run a process, and monitor the output, yet not care what the exit status is? One would think that this oversite will be fixed in future releases.

~S

Before I get flamed, know Process.waitpid can be used...
~S