defenestrate

Name

defenestrate — throw a person or object out of a window; no other exit is supported

Synopsis

defenestrate [-w WINDOW] [--out] [--resolve] OBJECT
inside(x) -> outside(x); solved(x) unchanged

Description

defenestrate relocates its OBJECT argument from inside a structure to outside it, transiting exactly one window. The transition is not gradual and not reversible. Unlike eject(1) or discard(1), the window is mandatory: remove it and the operation is a no-op with a clean pane.

The object's problem-state is not modified. defenestrate changes location, not resolution, then reports success on the grounds that a problem outside is no longer indexed by the process holding it. Callers who conflate the two are behaving as designed.

Weight is honored. Heavy arguments land short; light arguments flutter far. All arguments land.

Options

-w, --window WINDOW

Select the window. Defaults to the nearest pane. Ground-floor windows are accepted and produce no arc.

--out

The only supported direction. Present for symmetry with --in, which is not implemented and never will be.

--gently

Request a gentle defenestration. Flag is parsed and cleared. There is no gentle defenestration.

--resolve

Mark the object solved. Moves the object outside and returns 0. The object is outside.

--backsies

Request return of a defenestrated object. Unsupported. It does not come back.

Exit Status

0

the object is outside

0

the object was already outside; no window consumed

1

window closed; object retained; glass intact

2

object landed in a heap of manure and survived (see HISTORY)

History

The verb was coined in English around 1620 from Latin de- ("out of") and fenestra ("window"), minted specifically to name what Bohemian crowds kept doing to officials. In the Second Defenestration of Prague, on 23 May 1618, two Catholic regents and their secretary were thrown roughly seventeen metres from a Prague Castle window; all three survived, Catholic accounts crediting angels and Protestant accounts a dung heap. Prague repeated the act more than once, most recently in 1948, when foreign minister Jan Masaryk was found dead below his bathroom window.

Bugs

--resolve returns 0 and calls the problem solved. The problem is outside. The exit code declines to distinguish these states.

--in is unimplemented; once out, objects remain out. Marked WONTFIX. This is the feature.

Ground-floor invocation exits 0 but yields no arc, no glass, and no satisfaction.

See Also

backpressure(3), tombstone(5), thrashing(1). The living exhibit demonstrates the word in motion:

▸ operate defenestrate

Author

Maintained by The Giant of the side window, who holds that a problem outside is a problem solved and keeps, on that reasoning, immaculate hands.