Request for help on background shell processing

[Phil Pfeiffer]

The systems in question are 4.3BSD Unix and Ultrix.
The problem is as follows:


Assume file "nxf" does not exist.
Assume the following lines are in shell script 'cmd':
 
  #!/bin/csh
  rm nxf         >& cmd_out
  echo $status   >  cmd_stat


Assume the following lines are in shell script 'master': 

  #!( doesn't matter whether master is executed using "/bin/sh" or "/bin/csh" )
  cmd

'master', as is, executes just fine.  The "cannot find file" error message and
error status values are written into cmd_out and cmd_stat, respectively.


Assume the following lines are in shell script 'bgmaster': 

  #!( doesn't matter whether master is executed using "/bin/sh" or "/bin/csh" )
  cmd &
  wait

Now "cmd_out" is empty on return, and "cmd_stat=1".   Why?


-- 
-- Phil Pfeiffer

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