From 320691f312287575140bde777a11035166fc53a0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Einhard Leichtfuß <alguien@respiranto.de>
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2024 04:08:55 +0100
Subject: Initial commit

The basic.bash script is based on the one used in
`github.com:lawandorga/laworga-mail-server.git`, and other versions
used by me (which the `lawandorga-mail-server.git` one was based upon).

The notes are generally new, but many of them just a consolidation and
refinement of existing knowledge (of mine).
---
 docs/error-handling/subshell/repeated-printing.md | 84 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 84 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 docs/error-handling/subshell/repeated-printing.md

(limited to 'docs/error-handling/subshell')

diff --git a/docs/error-handling/subshell/repeated-printing.md b/docs/error-handling/subshell/repeated-printing.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa94a1b
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+++ b/docs/error-handling/subshell/repeated-printing.md
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# Problem: Repeated printing of (parts of) the stack trace
+
+## Gist
+
+* With subshells, several stack traces may be printed.
+* All but the first stack trace can be ignored.
+
+
+## Problematic behaviour
+
+* For each subshell in the current stack of subshells (including the root
+  shell), we get a stack trace.
+    * The `ERR` trap is caught for each subshell.
+    * Reason: The trap on `ERR` returns non-zero, and so does the subshell.
+        * If it returned zero, the error would be ignored on the upper level,
+          and program execution continue, which is undesired.
+* More precisely, each subshell gives a stack trace on the stack from itself
+  up to the root shell.
+    * Reason: Subshells inherit the knowledge of its ancestors, but do not
+      know of its descendant subshells.
+    * Thus, the closer to the root of the stack, the more often we get the
+      (same) information printed; while the information on where the error
+      originally occurred is printed only once.
+
+
+## Desired behaviour
+
+* The whole stack trace is printed once, and nothing more.
+    * This would be achieved if only the subshell where the error originally
+      occurred were to print a stack trace.
+
+
+## Considerations on fixes / improvements
+
+### Only print the stack trace for the root shell.
+
+* This is easy, just check for `[[ $BASH_SUBSHELL -eq 0 ]]`.
+* This would mean that on error within a subshell, we do not get
+  information below where the first subshell was invoked.
+* This may be deemed acceptable if subshells are rarely used and/or only
+  with short local code within.
+    * Short local code would be, e.g., `$(head -n 1 FILE)`.
+    * Short local code would not be, e.g., `$(local_nontrivial_function)`.
+
+
+### Reserve a special exit code.
+
+* Let `$SPECIAL_EXIT_CODE` be some exit code distinct from `0` and `1`.
+* Change `ERR` trap to `trap 'basic::on_error 0' ERR`, and define `on_error()`
+  as follows:
+  ```
+  function basic::on_error()
+  {
+    [[ $? -eq $SPECIAL_EXIT_CODE ]] && exit 1
+    local -ri offset="$1"
+    basic::print_stacktrace $((offset + 1))
+    exit $SPECIAL_EXIT_CODE
+  }
+  ```
+* The idea is that `on_error()` only prints the stack trace in the lowest
+  subshell, which has the full stack trace.
+* Naturally, this does not work properly if the original actual error had
+  `$SPECIAL_EXIT_CODE` as exit code.
+* That is, we'd need an exit code that cannot occur anywhere else.
+    * This should be impossible in the general case.
+
+
+### Use a temporary file
+
+* Use a temporary file to indicate whether `print_stacktrace()` was already
+  called in a subshell.
+* This feels somewhat evil.
+
+
+### Inspect `$BASH_COMMAND`
+
+* The `$BASH_COMMAND` variable contains the command executed that caused the
+  trap.
+* We'd have to identify whether the command spawned a subshell (and the error
+  came from there).
+* Note that `(` is a valid command name---but `$BASH_COMMAND` maintains any
+  necessary quoting.
+* It might suffice to check for `(.*` and `${varname_regex}=\$(.*`, given the
+  [other self-imposed restrictions](../../error-handling.md#Subshell).
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