[BusyBox 0006294]: expr overloads exitcode of 1 to mean several different things (mismatch with coreutils)

[bugs at busybox.net]

The following issue has been CLOSED 
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http://busybox.net/bugs/view.php?id=6294 
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Reported By:                pgbovine
Assigned To:                BusyBox
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Project:                    BusyBox
Issue ID:                   6294
Category:                   Standards Compliance
Reproducibility:            always
Severity:                   major
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     closed
Resolution:                 open
Fixed in Version:           
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Date Submitted:             11-11-2008 13:55 PST
Last Modified:              11-12-2008 14:16 PST
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Summary:                    expr overloads exitcode of 1 to mean several
different things (mismatch with coreutils)
Description: 
>From 'info expr':

   Exit status:

     0 if the expression is neither null nor 0,
     1 if the expression is null or 0,
     2 if the expression is invalid,
     3 if an internal error occurred (e.g., arithmetic overflow).

Busybox overloads exitcode 1 both to signify a successful exit with a
'false' value and to signify a syntax error. In contrast, coreutils uses a
special exit code 2 to signify a syntax error.

Coreutils:
$ expr '1' '<' '0'
0
$ echo $?
1

(this expression is valid and FALSE, so coreutils properly returns an
exitcode of 1)

$ expr '<' '0'
expr: syntax error
$ echo $?
2

(this expression is INVALID, so coreutils properly returns an exitcode of
2)

Busybox:
$ ./busybox expr '1' '<' '0'
0
$ echo $?
1

(so far, so good)

$ ./busybox expr '<' '0'
expr: syntax error
$ echo $?
1

(uh oh, should return exitcode of 2 here rather than 1.)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 11-11-08 14:37  
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Please try attached 9.patch 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 vda - 11-12-08 14:16  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Fixed in svn. 

Issue History 
Date Modified   Username       Field                    Change               
====================================================================== 
11-11-08 13:55  pgbovine       New Issue                                    
11-11-08 13:55  pgbovine       Status                   new => assigned     
11-11-08 13:55  pgbovine       Assigned To               => BusyBox         
11-11-08 14:37  vda            File Added: 9.patch                          
11-11-08 14:37  vda            Note Added: 0015474                          
11-12-08 14:16  vda            Status                   assigned => closed  
11-12-08 14:16  vda            Note Added: 0015594                          
======================================================================