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fix(shell_exec): stream rather than fail when delayed_stream's timed wait fails - #3881

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delayed-stream-wait-err
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fix(shell_exec): stream rather than fail when delayed_stream's timed wait fails#3881
max-sixty wants to merge 4 commits into
mainfrom
delayed-stream-wait-err

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@max-sixty max-sixty commented Aug 23, 2026

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Problem

Cmd::delayed_stream waits out a delay threshold before it starts streaming a child's output. When that timed wait returned an error rather than a status, the function returned the error to the caller — but only after joining the two reader threads, and those sit in read_to_end until the child closes its pipes. So the caller waited out the child's full runtime and then got Failed to wait for command for a command that had already finished.

That arm became reachable in #3857. shared_child allocates a pipe and registers a SIGCHLD handler on every timed wait, where wait-timeout set its self-pipe up once per process. A sandbox or an fd limit that used to abort the process (#3856) now surfaces as an Err.

Change

Phase 1's Err falls through to streaming, which is what an exceeded threshold already does. Phase 2's blocking wait() is a bare waitid(WNOWAIT) loop with neither a pipe nor a signal registration, so whatever broke the timed wait cannot reach it and the real exit status still comes back. A command whose deadline machinery fails now streams its output instead of failing.

The two sites where the deadline bounds wall-clock, run_with_timeout_impl and the pager, fold Err into their teardown arm instead, because a wait they cannot observe bounds nothing. The threshold here only decides when output starts streaming, so it streams. The module docstring records that split.

Testing

test_cmd_delayed_stream_crosses_the_threshold is new, and it covers an arm nothing reached before. Of the thresholds the suite used, 0 streams without ever calling wait_timeout, -1 disables phase 1, and 5_000 against a fast child returns Ok(Some) — so Ok(None) never happened.

The child writes a line 450 ms after the threshold passes. That line is the discriminator: streaming sends it to stderr, so the error's buffer comes back empty, where a phase 1 that had returned a status would still have it buffered. Checked by raising the threshold above the child's runtime, which fails the assertion with left: "late". Elapsed time would not have distinguished the two, since the child runs the same wall-clock either way.

The Err arm itself stays untested: reaching it needs pipe or sigaction to fail inside the wait, and it shares every line with the fall-through the new test covers.

Also run: cargo run -- hook pre-merge --yes (4677 tests, lints, doctests) and both rustdoc variants with -D warnings.

This was written by Claude Code on behalf of max-sixty

…wait fails

Phase 1's `Err` arm returned to the caller after joining the reader
threads, and those sit in `read_to_end` until the child closes its pipes
-- so the caller waited out the child's full runtime and then got
`Failed to wait for command` for a command that had already finished.

The arm became reachable in #3857: `shared_child` allocates a pipe and
registers a SIGCHLD handler on every timed wait, where `wait-timeout`
set its self-pipe up once per process, so a sandbox or an fd limit now
surfaces as `Err` where it used to surface as the abort of #3856.

It now falls through to streaming, like an exceeded threshold. Phase 2's
`wait()` is a bare `waitid(WNOWAIT)` loop with neither a pipe nor a
signal registration, so whatever broke the timed wait can't reach it and
the real exit status still comes back. The wall-clock sites tear the
child down instead, because a wait they can't observe bounds nothing;
the module docstring records that split.

`test_cmd_delayed_stream_crosses_the_threshold` covers the fall-through,
which no test reached before: the suite's thresholds are `0`, which
streams without calling `wait_timeout`, and `-1`, which skips phase 1.
The first version asserted elapsed time, which a phase-1 `Ok(Some)`
satisfies just as well: the child runs the same wall-clock either way, so
the assertion held whether or not the arm under test was taken.

A line the child writes after the switch is the discriminator. Streaming
sends it to stderr, so the error's buffer is empty; had phase 1 returned
a status, `late` would still be buffered. Raising the threshold above the
child's runtime fails the assertion with `left: "late"`.

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Two non-blocking notes; the change itself reads right, and the rewritten test that pins the switch by where the late output lands is a much stronger assertion than the elapsed-time one.

Cmd::delayed_stream's own docstring still glosses the progress message as printing "at the moment streaming starts (the delay threshold is crossed)". After this change a failed timed wait starts streaming too, so the parenthetical names one of two triggers — the module docstring above records the split, but the item docstring is what a caller reads. It's outside the diff, so no inline suggestion; happy to push the one-liner if you want it.

Comment thread src/shell_exec.rs Outdated
A failed timed wait now starts streaming too, so naming the threshold as
the moment it prints describes one of two triggers. The module docstring
above already records when each happens.
150 ms between the threshold and the child's echo races the scheduler,
which tests/CLAUDE.md warns against; 450 ms covers a deschedule longer
than the suite produces. The threshold stays at 50 ms rather than
shrinking: a spent `remaining` skips the wait, and the test would then
pass without reaching the arm it covers.
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