---
id: "bug-1708"
status: "open"
status_updated: "2026-09-24"
status_note: "xce_test jobkill -s non-numeric -> signal 0, still reports success"
component: "controller"
severity: "unknown"
timestamp: "2026-08-26T09:32:18Z"
last_seen: "2026-09-19T09:00:00Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/controller/testsuite/test.c:2572-2574 (signo = atoi(optarg))", ":2601 (unconditional success message)"]
tags: ["controller", "testsuite", "xce_test", "cmd_jobkill", "silent-failure", "cli-ux-audit"]
related: []
legacy: true
---

# bug-1708: cmd_jobkill's `-s <signo>` is parsed via unchecked atoi(); a non-numeric value (e.g

## Description
cmd_jobkill's `-s <signo>` is parsed via unchecked atoi(); a non-numeric value (e.g. a plausible typo of the symbolic name `SIGKILL` instead of `9`) silently becomes signo=0 (POSIX null signal, delivers nothing), yet the command still prints "Job <id> signaled" as if it succeeded.

## Environment
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## Reproduction
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## Root cause
No validation that -s's argument is numeric/nonzero before using it and reporting success.

## Fix
NOT YET FIXED. Recommended: reject non-numeric/unparseable -s values with a clear error instead of silently defaulting to signal 0.

## Verification
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## References
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._