4

There are a few things going on here but I think ultimately, either CLish or SSH is returning an exit code that is messing up my work flow.

I'm attempting to connect to a remote machine (CLish shell) using sshpass. The script that is being run is exiting with "exit 0" (and works when I call it directly on my local machine) but the exit code that is returned to my local shell is "255". Yes, confusing, I know, but maybe an example will help. I think I've narrowed down my problem to a simple example.

Connect to server running CLish and drop to bash shell in single command from local machine to server:

me@local$ sshpass -p 'password' ssh -t [email protected] 'shell'
user@server:~$ exit 0
exit
Connection to 172.16.5.4 closed.

Back on my machine, check the exit code:

me@local$ echo $?
255

Manually drop to shell on the remote machine with sshpass and CLish:

me@local$ sshpass -p 'password' ssh [email protected]
CLishPrompt> shell
me@server$ exit
exit
CLishPrompt> exit
Connection to 172.16.5.4 closed.

Check the exit code back on my machine:

me@local$ echo $?
0

I really need to issue the 'shell' command in the same sshpass call as in the first example because I am using redirection to write a script to the server's filesystem and run it (all in a single call). I would like it to return an exit code of "0" like the second example shows. I have been unable to find a work-around this problem. The reason I need exit code "0" is because this script is returning its findings in a Jenkins-CI "build" and I don't know how to tell Jenkins-CI to accept an exit code of 255. If this was bash, then I could check the exit code myself and continue on to the next part of my script.

I need to either get ssh to return "0" or tell Jenkins that "255" is okay in this instance. Do you know what's going on here or have any suggestions?

Improve this question
5
  • Obvious solution^W workaround: write a bash wrapper script, then you can test the return code.
    – derobert
    Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 21:38
  • Obvious solution^W workaround: use public key authentication instead of a password.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 23:34
  • It's part of a CI thing and public key auth isn't an option at this time. I have added a wrapper which is a great workaround. I guess having jenkins accept other codes is a long, slippery slope that I shouldn't go down but I'm curious as to why the different return codes on the two different methods. It's quite unexpected.
    – harperville
    Commented Apr 17, 2013 at 12:20
  • I don't know CLish at all, but I do notice a difference: in the second (manual) case you provide commands shell and eventually exit to CLish; in the first case CLish apparently exits because after shell the code ends. What if you provide exit as well? Can you do it? I don't know the right syntax, like shell; exit maybe, or the two commands with a literal newline character between them.
    – Kamil Maciorowski
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 11:26
  • That's a good observation; however, I'm far removed from that environment now and have no desire to recreate that setup. I think the solution was to create a wrapper script but I'm coming to that conclusion because of my comment above. I honestly don't recall.
    – harperville
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 13:13

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