# waitpid errors with shell aliases

3 messages from 2022-10-21 to 2022-10-25. Participants: shubham sharma, brian m. carlson.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/58665

## shubham sharma, 2022-10-21 09:26

Subject: waitpid errors with shell aliases
Message-ID: <CADUYy5vwfOJOFBQ+zUmkrsxGO=E9N5vUbsVRgjBn_MMY2X6H=A@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CADUYy5vwfOJOFBQ%2BzUmkrsxGO%3DE9N5vUbsVRgjBn_MMY2X6H%3DA%40mail.gmail.com

```
Hi,

I am using git shell aliases in config and was facing some weird
error. The error is not reproducible in all runs and occurs randomly
between runs...consider the minimal config(alias section) below for
usage idea:

[alias]
    A = "!f(){ \
        ( \
              // implementation
              git \"$1\"; \
        ) 250<dir/tmp; \
    }; f"
    B = "!f(){ \
        ssh <server> <command>; \
    }; f"
    C= "!f(){ \
        git A B; \
    }; f"

when firing "git C" from shell,in some cases(not deterministically reproducible)
i observed weird waitpid errors of the type :

error: waitpid for f(){         ssh <server> <command>;    }; f
failed: No child processes
fatal: while expanding alias 'B': 'f(){       ssh <server> <command>;
     }; f': No child processes
error: waitpid for f(){     (//implementation; git "$1"; )250<dir/tmp;
   }; f failed: No child processes
fatal: while expanding alias 'A': 'f(){        (//implementation; git
"$1"; )250<dir/tmp;      }; f': No child processes
error: waitpid for f(){    git A B;    }; f failed: No child processes
fatal: while expanding alias 'C': 'f(){       git A B;      }; f': No
child processes

can anyone please help as to what could possibly be the reason for this?

Thanks,
Shubham

```

## brian m. carlson, 2022-10-24 00:28

Subject: Re: waitpid errors with shell aliases
Message-ID: <Y1XcQctK/SkDZCbt@tapette.crustytoothpaste.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/Y1XcQctK%2FSkDZCbt%40tapette.crustytoothpaste.net
In-Reply-To: <CADUYy5vwfOJOFBQ+zUmkrsxGO=E9N5vUbsVRgjBn_MMY2X6H=A@mail.gmail.com>

```
On 2022-10-21 at 09:26:11, shubham sharma wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am using git shell aliases in config and was facing some weird
> error. The error is not reproducible in all runs and occurs randomly
> between runs...consider the minimal config(alias section) below for
> usage idea:
> 
> [alias]
>     A = "!f(){ \
>         ( \
>               // implementation
>               git \"$1\"; \
>         ) 250<dir/tmp; \
>     }; f"
>     B = "!f(){ \
>         ssh <server> <command>; \
>     }; f"
>     C= "!f(){ \
>         git A B; \
>     }; f"
> 
> when firing "git C" from shell,in some cases(not deterministically reproducible)
> i observed weird waitpid errors of the type :
> 
> error: waitpid for f(){         ssh <server> <command>;    }; f
> failed: No child processes
> fatal: while expanding alias 'B': 'f(){       ssh <server> <command>;
>      }; f': No child processes
> error: waitpid for f(){     (//implementation; git "$1"; )250<dir/tmp;
>    }; f failed: No child processes
> fatal: while expanding alias 'A': 'f(){        (//implementation; git
> "$1"; )250<dir/tmp;      }; f': No child processes
> error: waitpid for f(){    git A B;    }; f failed: No child processes
> fatal: while expanding alias 'C': 'f(){       git A B;      }; f': No
> child processes
> 
> can anyone please help as to what could possibly be the reason for this?

Could you tell us what OS and version of Git you're running, and what
shell /bin/sh is?  I could imagine that there might be some weirdness on
Windows with the shell, but I would find an ECHILD to be surprising on
Unix.
-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

```

## shubham sharma, 2022-10-25 09:47

Subject: Re: waitpid errors with shell aliases
Message-ID: <CADUYy5sv-rc-hRB9xV2uK05k+S2G7AADiA9w6iD8pzoYMPQqGw@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CADUYy5sv-rc-hRB9xV2uK05k%2BS2G7AADiA9w6iD8pzoYMPQqGw%40mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <Y1XcQctK/SkDZCbt@tapette.crustytoothpaste.net>

```
Hi,

/bin/sh -> GNU bash, version 5.1.4(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
OS -> Arch Linux
Kernel: Linux 5.4.86-1-lts
Architecture: x86-64
git -> git version 2.30.0

Thanks,
Shubham

On Mon, Oct 24, 2022 at 5:58 AM brian m. carlson
<sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> wrote:
>
> On 2022-10-21 at 09:26:11, shubham sharma wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am using git shell aliases in config and was facing some weird
> > error. The error is not reproducible in all runs and occurs randomly
> > between runs...consider the minimal config(alias section) below for
> > usage idea:
> >
> > [alias]
> >     A = "!f(){ \
> >         ( \
> >               // implementation
> >               git \"$1\"; \
> >         ) 250<dir/tmp; \
> >     }; f"
> >     B = "!f(){ \
> >         ssh <server> <command>; \
> >     }; f"
> >     C= "!f(){ \
> >         git A B; \
> >     }; f"
> >
> > when firing "git C" from shell,in some cases(not deterministically reproducible)
> > i observed weird waitpid errors of the type :
> >
> > error: waitpid for f(){         ssh <server> <command>;    }; f
> > failed: No child processes
> > fatal: while expanding alias 'B': 'f(){       ssh <server> <command>;
> >      }; f': No child processes
> > error: waitpid for f(){     (//implementation; git "$1"; )250<dir/tmp;
> >    }; f failed: No child processes
> > fatal: while expanding alias 'A': 'f(){        (//implementation; git
> > "$1"; )250<dir/tmp;      }; f': No child processes
> > error: waitpid for f(){    git A B;    }; f failed: No child processes
> > fatal: while expanding alias 'C': 'f(){       git A B;      }; f': No
> > child processes
> >
> > can anyone please help as to what could possibly be the reason for this?
>
> Could you tell us what OS and version of Git you're running, and what
> shell /bin/sh is?  I could imagine that there might be some weirdness on
> Windows with the shell, but I would find an ECHILD to be surprising on
> Unix.
> --
> brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
> Toronto, Ontario, CA

```