Very Computer

1. Need Expert Advice on Bourne Shell Exit Status Checking

Hi there,

I'm trying to port several C-shell scripts to sh|ksh|bash.  These scripts
execute programs and test the return status when the program exits.  If the
program failed, the return status _is_printed_out_, as in

   # in csh
   /usr/appl/bin/someprogram arg1 arg2 arg3
   if ( $status != 0 ) then
      echo "Program someprogram failed with RC= $status "
   endif

I can't come up with any way to successfully capture the status of the
program so that it can be printed out.  These codes are set up to tell
the user where the failure occurred.  I've tried

   # in sh
   status=`/usr/appl/bin/someprogram arg1 arg2 arg3`
   if [ "$status" ]
   then
      echo "Program someprogram failed with RC= $status "
   fi

This fails because a program between backquotes (`) does not seem to have
the environment preserved -- no exported environmental variables seem to
be available to the program, and this is essential for these programs.

Using a raw test such as

   if /usr/appl/bin/someprogram arg1 arg2 arg3
   (stuff)

won't help, because the status value isn't available for displaying.
There's too many return values to test for them all.

Am I missing something obvious (or not so) here?

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