The branch stable/13 has been updated by des: URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=c1788a925a93223dbd78f8c9988b4a296428b951
commit c1788a925a93223dbd78f8c9988b4a296428b951 Author: Dag-Erling Smørgrav <[email protected]> AuthorDate: 2026-02-25 21:12:36 +0000 Commit: Dag-Erling Smørgrav <[email protected]> CommitDate: 2026-03-04 14:46:04 +0000 system(3): Clarify return values Our manual page currently states that system() will return 127 if it fails to execute the shell. The actual return value is, to quote POSIX, “as if the command language interpreter had terminated using exit(127) or _exit(127)”. MFC after: 1 week Sponsored by: Klara, Inc. Reviewed by: bnovkov, kevans Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D55483 (cherry picked from commit 7305604b29d3db29c9bb5de6e7a25829fb541d1e) --- lib/libc/stdlib/system.3 | 8 +++++--- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/lib/libc/stdlib/system.3 b/lib/libc/stdlib/system.3 index 7f1a34c69d2d..0b8a677c35b7 100644 --- a/lib/libc/stdlib/system.3 +++ b/lib/libc/stdlib/system.3 @@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ .\" .\" @(#)system.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93 .\" -.Dd July 25, 2015 +.Dd February 24, 2026 .Dt SYSTEM 3 .Os .Sh NAME @@ -79,8 +79,10 @@ or \-1 if an error occurred when invoking .Xr fork 2 or .Xr waitpid 2 . -A return value of 127 means the execution of the shell -failed. +If the child process fails to execute the shell, it will terminate +with an exit code of 127 and +.Nm +will return the corresponding exit status. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr sh 1 , .Xr execve 2 ,
