+static bool ignore_EPIPE /* = false */;
+
+/* Specify the reaction to an EPIPE error during the closing of stdout:
+ - If ignore = true, it shall be ignored.
+ - If ignore = false, it shall evoke a diagnostic, along with a nonzero
+ exit status.
+ The default is ignore = false.
+
+ This setting matters only if the SIGPIPE signal is ignored (i.e. its
+ handler set to SIG_IGN) or blocked. Only particular programs need to
+ temporarily ignore SIGPIPE. If SIGPIPE is ignored or blocked because
+ it was ignored or blocked in the parent process when it created the
+ child process, it usually is a bug in the parent process: It is bad
+ practice to have SIGPIPE ignored or blocked while creating a child
+ process.
+
+ EPIPE occurs when writing to a pipe or socket that has no readers now,
+ when SIGPIPE is ignored or blocked.
+
+ The ignore = false setting is suitable for a scenario where it is normally
+ guaranteed that the pipe writer terminates before the pipe reader. In
+ this case, an EPIPE is an indication of a premature termination of the
+ pipe reader and should lead to a diagnostic and a nonzero exit status.
+
+ The ignore = true setting is suitable for a scenario where you don't know
+ ahead of time whether the pipe writer or the pipe reader will terminate
+ first. In this case, an EPIPE is an indication that the pipe writer can
+ stop doing useless write() calls; this is what close_stdout does anyway.
+ EPIPE is part of the normal pipe/socket shutdown protocol in this case,
+ and should not lead to a diagnostic message. */
+
+void
+close_stdout_set_ignore_EPIPE (bool ignore)
+{
+ ignore_EPIPE = ignore;
+}
+
+/* Close standard output. On error, issue a diagnostic and _exit
+ with status 'exit_failure'.
+
+ Also close standard error. On error, _exit with status 'exit_failure'.
+
+ Since close_stdout is commonly registered via 'atexit', POSIX
+ and the C standard both say that it should not call 'exit',
+ because the behavior is undefined if 'exit' is called more than
+ once. So it calls '_exit' instead of 'exit'. If close_stdout
+ is registered via atexit before other functions are registered,
+ the other functions can act before this _exit is invoked.
+
+ Applications that use close_stdout should flush any streams
+ other than stdout and stderr before exiting, since the call to
+ _exit will bypass other buffer flushing. Applications should
+ be flushing and closing other streams anyway, to check for I/O
+ errors. Also, applications should not use tmpfile, since _exit
+ can bypass the removal of these files.
+
+ It's important to detect such failures and exit nonzero because many
+ tools (most notably `make' and other build-management systems) depend
+ on being able to detect failure in other tools via their exit status. */
+