Re: [PATCHv2] run-command: detect finished children by closed pipe rather than waitpid

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Stefan Beller wrote:

> Detect if a child stopped working by checking if their stderr pipe
> was closed instead of checking their state with waitpid.
> As waitpid is not fully working in Windows, this is an approach which
> allows for better cross platform operation. (It's less code, too)

Can you say more about what is broken about waitpid on Windows?

I ask because it's possible for a child to close stderr without
intending to be finished.  That might be okay here (though the commit
subject doesn't explain so, it is only affecting the workqueue
interface that runs commands in parallel and not the normal
run-command interface) but would need some documentation and could be
counterintuitive.

So if there's a simple way to get waitpid to work, that seems
preferrable.

Thanks,
Jonathan