Re: [Bug-tar] Error Code 141

[Paul Eggert]

Sergey Poznyakoff <address@hidden> writes:

> Cesar Solera <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>> I'm new in this list, and i need your help because tar returned to me
>> an error code that i don't know what it menas. The error code is 141.
>
> GNU tar uses only 0, 1 and 2 as its exit codes. Any other value is
> the exit code of its child process.

But GNU tar could exit due to a SIGPIPE signal, no?  That would yield
exit status 141 on many systems, e.g., GNU/Linux, because SIGPIPE is
signal 13, and 13+128 is 141.

For example, on my Debian stable host running GNU tar 1.15.1, I get
this behavior:

$ mkfifo fifo
$ sleep 10 >fifo &
$ tar tvf big-tar-file-with-lots-of-entries >fifo
$ echo $?
141

Perhaps this could also happen if (say) the tape fills up, gzip exits,
and tar writes to the pipe that gzip is no longer reading from.