Repository navigation
rtk err re-splits child command argv on whitespace — quoted arguments corrupted, exit codes silently wrong #2389
Description
Version: rtk 0.42.3 (macOS arm64, Homebrew)
rtk err does not preserve the argv vector of its child command. The trailing [COMMAND]... args are flattened and re-split on whitespace, so any single quoted argument containing a space is split into multiple arguments. rtk proxy preserves argv correctly, which isolates the defect to the err path.
Minimal repro (argv inspection):
cat > /tmp/argspy <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
printf 'argc=%s\n' "$#"
for a in "$@"; do printf 'arg=[%s]\n' "$a"; done
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/argspy
$ rtk err /tmp/argspy 'a b' c
argc=3
arg=[a]
arg=[b] # ← 'a b' was split
arg=[c]
$ rtk proxy /tmp/argspy 'a b' c
argc=2
arg=[a b] # ← correct
arg=[c]Observable consequence — exit code silently wrong:
$ rtk err sh -c 'exit 7'; echo "exit:$?"
[ok] Command completed successfully (no errors)
exit:0 # ← expected 7
$ rtk err -- sh -c 'exit 7'; echo "exit:$?"
[ok] Command completed successfully (no errors)
exit:0 # ← `--` does not help
$ printf '#!/bin/sh\nexit 7\n' > /tmp/exit7.sh; chmod +x /tmp/exit7.sh
$ rtk err /tmp/exit7.sh; echo "exit:$?"
[FAIL] Command failed (exit code: 7)
exit:7 # ← a flagless command works correctlyMechanism: rtk err sh -c 'exit 7' reaches sh as sh -c exit 7 (the quoted exit 7 re-split into exit + 7). Per POSIX, sh -c exit 7 runs the one-word script exit with $0=7, which exits 0 — so the real failure is masked. Confirmed independently: plain sh -c exit 7 → 0, sh -c 'exit 7' → 7.
Impact: any rtk err <cmd> whose child takes a quoted argument containing whitespace — sh -c '…', bash -c '…', make -C 'dir with space', node -e 'a; b' — runs a corrupted command. Because err reports status from the (wrong) child, hard failures can be reported as success.
Expected: rtk err should pass the child argv through verbatim, exactly as rtk proxy does.
Activity
pszymkowiak commentedon Jun 11, 2026
🔍 Automated Triage
bughighSummary
rtk err flattens and re-splits argv on whitespace, corrupting quoted arguments and silently masking non-zero exit codes; fix by passing argv verbatim as rtk proxy already does
📁 Relevant files
src/commands/err.rssrc/commands/proxy.rsTriaged automatically by wshm · This is an automated analysis, not a human review.
KennyAtCodin commentedon Sep 16, 2026
Reproduces on rtk 0.48.0 (Windows 11, Git Bash):
This prints
[ok] Command completed successfully (no errors)and exits0. The inline script loses its quoting, Node fails on the syntax, and the failure is reported as success. Running the same code from a script file works correctly:rtk err node fail.jsprints only the error line and exits3.This false green is the most dangerous part for agent use, because an agent trusts the
[ok]line and the exit code.MincongZhou commentedon Sep 23, 2026
Opened #4206 for this. A multi-word argv now reaches the child as a vector — the same route
rtk proxyalready takes — withresolved_command+ChildArgExtreused rather than a second quoting path. A lone argument stays a shell string, sortk err '<cmd> && <cmd>'keeps composing. Repro and before/after are in the PR body.KuSh commentedon Sep 26, 2026
This is fixed on develop by #4125, which makes rtk err run the child with its argument vector intact instead of re-splitting it through a shell:
rtk err sh -c 'exit 7'now reports exit code 7 and a quoted 'a b' argument reaches the child as one argument. The change is not in a stable release yet, so labeling it resolved-pending-close; it will be closed once a release containing the fix ships. If it still happens on that release, please comment here.KuSh commentedon Oct 3, 2026
Fixed by #4125, shipped in v0.51.0:
rtk errnow passes the child its argument vector unchanged.rtk err sh -c 'exit 7'reports exit code 7 and a quoted 'a b' argument reaches the child as one argument. If you still see a split argument or a false success on v0.51.0 or later, please comment and we will reopen.