2008/159 svcs -xq

[Liane Praza]

I'm submitting this case on behalf of Mark Martin.  I've made it
an Automatic approval, as it is adding an option to svcs which is
already in identical use in another already ARCed command (svcprop).

If there are concerns, we'll happily turn this into a fasttrack and
let the discussion run its course.

liane

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svcs -xq
Mark Martin
27 February 2008

1. Summary

   An unnamed customer has requested an enhancement to svcs -x output
   which produces no output but would set the error level to 0 if there
   are no services in a problematic state and a non-zero result if
   svcs -x would actually produce an output.  This enhancement provides
   an additional -q flag to to the svcs command which quietens svcs -x
   output and allows easier integration with admin scripts which may only
   need to know if there are either 0 or at least one service in a
   problematic state and do not want to parse svcs -x output.

   It should be noted that this optional flag would emulate the similar
   -q flag in svcprop, a related SMF command.

2. Interface table

   Interface                   Stability
   ---------                   ---------
   svcs -xq (q option letter)  Committed
   svcs -x return code         Committed

   This case requests Patch binding for these interfaces.

3. References

   PSARC 2004/673 svcs -x (eXplain)

4. Manual page differences


SYNOPSIS
-    svcs -x [-v] [FMRI]...
+     svcs -x [-q] [-v] [FMRI]

  DESCRIPTION

      The fourth form explains the states  of  service  instances.
      For  each  argument,  a  block  of  human-readable  text  is
      displayed which explains what state the service is  in,  and
      why it is in that state. With no arguments, problematic ser-
      vices are described.

+     If the optional -q is provided in the fourth form, the command
+     produces no human-readable text and simply returns an error
+     code indicative of the existence of degraded services.  With
+     this flag, an error code of 3 indicates services exist that are in
+     a maintenance state whereas an error code of 0 indicates
+     no services in the maintenance state.

  EXIT STATUS
+
+     3    Services exist in maintenance state.