improve invoking external commands

- don't make assumptions on where programs live (i.e., /bin/sh, /bin/rm,
/bin/mv) are not universal
- dont invoke shell when unnecessary
- improve error-handling

guile/tests/test-mu-guile.cc

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** Copyright (C) 2012-2023 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+** Copyright (C) 2012-2025 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 ** under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include "utils/mu-test-utils.hh"
+#include "utils/mu-utils-file.hh"
+
 #include <lib/mu-store.hh>
 #include <utils/mu-utils.hh>
 
@@ -38,25 +40,22 @@ static std::string test_dir;
 static std::string
 fill_database(void)
 {
-	const auto cmdline = mu_format(
+	{
-		"/bin/sh -c '"
+		const auto res = run_command0({MU_PROGRAM,
-		"{} init  --muhome={} --maildir={} --quiet; "
+				"--quiet", "init",
-		"{} index --muhome={}  --quiet'",
+				"--muhome", test_dir,
-		MU_PROGRAM,
+				"--maildir", MU_TESTMAILDIR2});
-		test_dir,
+		assert_valid_result(res);
-		MU_TESTMAILDIR2,
+	}
-		MU_PROGRAM,
+
-		test_dir);
+	{
+		const auto res = run_command0({MU_PROGRAM, "--quiet",
+				"index", "--muhome", test_dir});
+		assert_valid_result(res);
+	}
 
 	if (g_test_verbose())
-		mu_println("{}", cmdline);
+		mu_println("\nindexed {} @ {}", MU_TESTMAILDIR2, test_dir);
-
-	GError *err{};
-	if (!g_spawn_command_line_sync(cmdline.c_str(), NULL, NULL, NULL, &err)) {
-		mu_printerrln("Error: {}", err ? err->message : "?");
-		g_clear_error(&err);
-		g_assert(0);
-	}
 
 	return test_dir;
 }
@@ -72,22 +71,11 @@ test_something(const char* what)
 		g_print("GUILE_LOAD_PATH: %s\n", GUILE_LOAD_PATH);
 
 	const auto dir = fill_database();
-	const auto cmdline  = mu_format("{} -q -e main {}/test-mu-guile.scm "
+	const auto res = run_command0({GUILE_BINARY, "-q", "-e", "main",
-				     "--muhome={} --test={}",
+			ABS_SRCDIR"/test-mu-guile.scm",
-				     GUILE_BINARY, ABS_SRCDIR,
+			"--muhome", dir, "--test", what});
-				     dir, what);
 
-	if (g_test_verbose())
+	assert_valid_result(res);
-		mu_println("cmdline: {}", cmdline);
-
-	GError *err{};
-	int status{};
-	if (!g_spawn_command_line_sync(cmdline.c_str(), NULL, NULL, &status, &err) ||
-	    status != 0) {
-		mu_printerrln("Error: {}", err ? err->message : "something went wrong");
-		g_clear_error(&err);
-		g_assert(0);
-	}
 }
 
 static void

lib/mu-maildir.cc

@@ -297,7 +297,11 @@ msg_move_g_file(const std::string& src, const std::string& dst)
 G_GNUC_UNUSED static Mu::Result<void>
 msg_move_mv_file(const std::string& src, const std::string& dst)
 {
-	if (auto res{run_command0({"/bin/mv", src, dst})}; !res)
+	static const auto mv_path{program_in_path("mv")};
+	if (!mv_path)
+		return Err(Error::Code::File, "failed to find 'mv'");
+
+	if (auto res{run_command0({*mv_path, src, dst})}; !res)
 		return Err(Error::Code::File, "error moving {}->{}; err={}", src, dst, res.error());
 	else
 		return Ok();

lib/tests/bench-indexer.cc

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** Copyright (C) 2022-2023 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+** Copyright (C) 2022-2025 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 ** under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 #include <fstream>
 
 #include <utils/mu-utils.hh>
+#include <utils/mu-utils-file.hh>
+
 #include <utils/mu-regex.hh>
 #include <mu-store.hh>
 #include "mu-maildir.hh"
@@ -438,12 +440,9 @@ setup(const TestData& tdata)
 static void
 tear_down()
 {
-	/* ugly */
+	for (auto&& dir : { BENCH_MAILDIRS, BENCH_STORE } ) {
-	GError *err{};
+		if (const auto res = remove_directory(dir); !res)
-	const auto cmd{mu_format("/bin/rm -rf '{}' '{}'", BENCH_MAILDIRS, BENCH_STORE)};
+			mu_warning("failed to remove {}: {}", dir, res.error().what());
-	if (!g_spawn_command_line_sync(cmd.c_str(), NULL, NULL, NULL, &err)) {
-		mu_warning("error: {}", err ? err->message : "?");
-		g_clear_error(&err);
 	}
 }
 

mu/mu-options.cc

@@ -829,13 +829,14 @@ add_scripts(CLI::App& app, Options& opts)
 static Result<Options>
 show_manpage(Options& opts, const std::string& name)
 {
-	char *path = g_find_program_in_path("man");
+	const auto manprog{program_in_path("man")};
-	if (!path)
+	if (!manprog)
 		return Err(Error::Code::Command,
 			   "cannot find 'man' program");
 
 	GError* err{};
-	auto cmd{to_string_gchar(std::move(path)) + " " + name};
+	const auto cmd{mu_format("{} {}", *manprog, name)};
+	// run_command0 doesn't work here.
 	auto res = g_spawn_command_line_sync(cmd.c_str(), {}, {}, {}, &err);
 	if (!res)
 		return Err(Error::Code::Command, &err,

mu/tests/test-mu-query.cc

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** Copyright (C) 2008-2022 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
+** Copyright (C) 2008-2025 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 ** under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
@@ -47,16 +47,20 @@ make_database(const std::string& dbdir, const std::string& testdir)
 {
 	/* use the env var rather than `--muhome` */
 	g_setenv("MUHOME", dbdir.c_str(), 1);
-	const auto cmdline{mu_format(
+
-			"/bin/sh -c '"
+	{
-			"{} --quiet init --maildir={} ; "
+		const auto res = run_command0({MU_PROGRAM, "--quiet", "init", "--maildir", testdir});
-			"{} --quiet index'",
+		assert_valid_result(res);
-			MU_PROGRAM, testdir, MU_PROGRAM)};
+	}
+
+	{
+		const auto res = run_command0({MU_PROGRAM, "--quiet", "index"});
+		assert_valid_result(res);
+	}
 
 	if (g_test_verbose())
-		mu_printerrln("\n{}", cmdline);
+		mu_info("\nindexed {} @ {}", testdir, dbdir);
 
-	g_assert(g_spawn_command_line_sync(cmdline.c_str(), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL));
 	auto xpath = join_paths(dbdir, "xapian");
 	/* ensure MUHOME worked */
 	g_assert_cmpuint(::access(xpath.c_str(), F_OK), ==, 0);