Question

I have a simple script which is used to start another program. This other program may sometimes yield a SIGSEGV, which disrupts my output. I have therefore added a couple of lines which is supposed to temporarily redirect the stderr to /dev/null such that the SIGSEGV is ignored. The following is a draft of my code:

exec 2> /dev/null progname >& ./tmp/run.txt && run_status='OK' exec 2>1 

The problem is that the last line does not do what I want. The first line obviously works, and redirects the stderr. The last line is supposed to return the stderr back to where it was before (which I have only supposed is the same as stdout).

Any help would be appriciated!

Answer 1

Another option is:

exec 3> /dev/stderr 2> /dev/null progname >& ./tmp/run.txt && run_status='OK' exec 2>&3 

Or even

exec 3>&2 2> /dev/null progname >& ./tmp/run.txt && run_status='OK' exec 2>&3 

That way the script preserves the separation of stdout and stderr for the script (ie. the scripts stdout and stderr can be redirected separately.