Exit Codes

Renacer uses distinct exit codes to indicate different outcomes, enabling programmatic response in scripts and CI/CD pipelines.

Tracer Exit Codes

When running renacer -- <command>:

Examples

# Success - ls exits with 0
renacer -- ls
echo $?  # 0

# Command fails - ls on nonexistent file
renacer -- ls /nonexistent
echo $?  # 2 (ls exit code)

# Renacer error - invalid option
renacer --invalid-option
echo $?  # 1

Validate Subcommand Exit Codes

When running renacer validate:

CI/CD Usage

#!/bin/bash
set -e

renacer validate --baseline ./golden -- ./myapp
status=$?

case $status in
    0) echo "Validation passed" ;;
    1) echo "REGRESSION DETECTED - blocking deployment"; exit 1 ;;
    2) echo "Baseline not found - generating...";
       renacer validate --generate ./golden -- ./myapp ;;
    3) echo "Invalid baseline - regenerating...";
       rm -rf ./golden
       renacer validate --generate ./golden -- ./myapp ;;
    4) echo "Command failed to execute"; exit 1 ;;
    5) echo "Configuration error"; exit 1 ;;
esac

GitHub Actions

- name: Validate traces
  run: renacer validate --baseline ./golden -- ./myapp
  continue-on-error: false  # Exit 1 fails the workflow

Signal-Based Exit Codes

When the traced program is terminated by a signal:

Example

# Program crashes with SIGSEGV
renacer -- ./crash_program
echo $?  # 139 (128 + 11)

Exit Code Constants (Rust API)

use renacer::validate::ValidateExitCode;

fn handle_validation_result(code: ValidateExitCode) {
    match code {
        ValidateExitCode::Passed => println!("OK"),
        ValidateExitCode::Failed => {
            eprintln!("Regression detected!");
            std::process::exit(1);
        }
        ValidateExitCode::BaselineNotFound => {
            eprintln!("Baseline not found");
            std::process::exit(2);
        }
        ValidateExitCode::InvalidBaseline => {
            eprintln!("Invalid baseline");
            std::process::exit(3);
        }
        ValidateExitCode::CommandError => {
            eprintln!("Command error");
            std::process::exit(4);
        }
        ValidateExitCode::ConfigError => {
            eprintln!("Config error");
            std::process::exit(5);
        }
    }
}

Best Practices

1. Always Check Exit Codes

if ! renacer validate --baseline ./golden -- ./myapp; then
    echo "Validation failed with code $?"
    exit 1
fi

2. Distinguish Tracer vs Program Failures

Exit code 1 could mean:

• Renacer internal error (when tracing)
• Regression detected (when validating)

Use distinct handling:

# Tracer mode
renacer -- ./myapp
if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
    echo "Renacer or program error"
fi

# Validate mode - exit 1 is specifically regression
renacer validate --baseline ./golden -- ./myapp
if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
    echo "REGRESSION DETECTED"
fi

3. Log Exit Codes for Debugging

renacer validate --baseline ./golden -- ./myapp
echo "Validate exit code: $?" >> validation.log

Related

• CLI Reference - Full command documentation
• Golden Trace Validation - Validation details