document that exit() -> wait() only returns low bits

2 files changed, 16 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/exit.3 b/lib/libc/stdlib/exit.3
index a17c1805f2a..cecc020d0fb 100644
--- a/lib/libc/stdlib/exit.3
+++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/exit.3
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
-.\"	$OpenBSD: exit.3,v 1.4 2000/04/20 13:50:02 aaron Exp $
+.\"	$OpenBSD: exit.3,v 1.5 2001/03/08 20:43:42 deraadt Exp $
 .\"
 .Dd June 29, 1991
 .Dt EXIT 3
@@ -66,6 +66,15 @@ Unlink all files created with the
 .Xr tmpfile 3
 function.
 .El
+Following this,
+.Fn exit
+calls
+.Xr _exit 2.
+Note that typically
+.Xr exit 2
+only passes the lower 8 bits of
+.Fa status
+on to the parent, thus negative values have less meaning.
 .Sh RETURN VALUES
 The
 .Fn exit
@@ -74,6 +83,7 @@ function never returns.
 .Xr _exit 2 ,
 .Xr atexit 3 ,
 .Xr intro 3 ,
+.Xr sysexits 3 ,
 .Xr tmpfile 3
 .Sh STANDARDS
 The
diff --git a/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2 b/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2
index 78902b87c66..9be387423ba 100644
--- a/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2
+++ b/lib/libc/sys/_exit.2
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$OpenBSD: _exit.2,v 1.10 2000/10/18 05:12:08 aaron Exp $
+.\"	$OpenBSD: _exit.2,v 1.11 2001/03/08 20:43:42 deraadt Exp $
 .\"	$NetBSD: _exit.2,v 1.6 1995/02/27 12:31:34 cgd Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1993
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ signal, it is notified of the calling process's termination and
 .Fa status
 is set as defined by
 .Xr wait 2 .
+(Note that typically only the lower 8 bits of
+.Fa status
+is passed on to the parent, thus negative values have less meaning.)
 .It
 The parent process ID of all of the calling process's existing child
 processes are set to 1; the initialization process (see the
@@ -102,6 +105,7 @@ can never return.
 .Xr fork 2 ,
 .Xr intro 2 ,
 .Xr sigaction 2 ,
+.Xr sysexits 3 ,
 .Xr wait 2 ,
 .Xr exit 3
 .Sh STANDARDS