Wrong number of arguments, try the -x option.
Meaning: you gave an incorrect number of arguments
Error NewDurationSeconds must be a number
Meaning: The second argument must be a number, you invoked it badly.
Error, argument to -g must be a number
Meaning: The argument should be the grace seconds, you invoked it badly.
Error <file_name> doesn’t exist
Meaning: The StatusFile will be created, except when the -l option is given. Check why StatusFile doesn’t exist, or what has removed it.
Error can’t open <file_name> as <reason>
Meaning: There was an error creating StatusFile, probably permissions.
Error can’t get status for <file_name> as <reason>
Meaning: abut has tried to determine the size of StatusFile but failed, this is done after the file is opened, failure is unlikely.
Error <file_name> is empty
Meaning: StatusFile is empty, this is unacceptable when the -l option is given.
Error the contents of <file_name> are bad
Meaning: The contents of StatusFile are not as expected, ie the contents can’t be interpreted. Determine what has corrupted the contents.
This error should not happen because of race conditions between concurrent invocations of abut.
Error closing/writing to <file_name> as <reason>
Meaning: A problem with StatusFile, this is probably because the disk is full. This will not affect abut’s exit code, but will almost certainly cause problems in the future.
-m suboption '<suboption>', '=' missing
Meaning: All the suboptions to the “-m” flag have an equal sign before a number. This was missing in the case shown.
Can’t read number after '<subopt>=' '<should_be_number>'
Meaning: Yet more problems parsing suboptions to “-m”.
Bad period multiplier '<bad>'
Meaning: After “period=N” there may be a multiplier of “w” or “d”. But “<bad>” was found. This is in the “-m” option.
Can’t have -ve number to -m<subopt>
Meaning: The suboptions to -m can’t be given negative numbers.
Day of week '<string>' bad
Meaning: The days of the week are 0..6, <string> doesn’t fit into that.
'<string>' is not a 24 hour time
Meaning: The time given to “-mrestarttime” should be in 24-hour clock format.