Re: [bug #33134] spurious error when stdout is already closed

[David Boyce]

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 1:48 AM, Philip Guenther <address@hidden> wrote:
[...]

All quite true and admirably researched but this is not a
standards-lawyering exercise, it's a software-engineering issue.

I can't remember how many installers I've run which, when cancelled,
finish by saying "ERROR - the software is not installed!". And I
always think "That's not an error, I got what I asked for. The only
error would be if the product ended up installed".

Here we have the same thing. If the user has explicitly closed stdout
before handing it to make, does s/he need to be alerted to that fact
by make? And even if so, should it take the form of an ERROR message?
I'd say no, because when the user gets exactly what s/he asked for
that cannot be regarded as an error condition. If make feels the need
to say "Warning: unable to write to stdout because it's closed" that
would be reasonable, though a little fussy for my taste, but there's
no error condition here.

I feel like we're trapped in a classic Internet chest-thumping loop,
but my day job requires that I break it. I'd say the bug report exists
and this thread provides all the commentary one could wish, so I'm
sure Paul will be in a position to make an informed decision when he
gets to it, and let's leave it at that.

David