---
id: "bug-1710"
status: "open"
status_updated: "2026-09-24"
status_note: "xce_test hello -c <=0 reports vacuous 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:1341 (rc=0 init)", ":1351 (count=atoi(optarg)", "unchecked)", ":1367 (while count>0 loop)", ":1373 (return rc)"]
tags: ["controller", "testsuite", "xce_test", "cmd_hello", "silent-failure", "cli-ux-audit"]
related: []
legacy: true
---

# bug-1710: cmd_hello with -c 0, a negative count, or a non-numeric value (all yield count<=0 from unchecked…

## Description
cmd_hello with -c 0, a negative count, or a non-numeric value (all yield count<=0 from unchecked atoi()) sends zero hellos (the while(count>0) loop body never runs) but still returns the still-zero-initialized rc, reporting success even though nothing was sent.

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

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

## Root cause
No validation that count is >=1 before entering the loop; the initial success value is never overwritten when the loop body never executes.

## Fix
NOT YET FIXED. Recommended: reject count<=0 with an explicit error instead of falling through to a silent vacuous success.

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

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