Programming discussion
Ran into this today and I'd have sworn I knew how it worked.
set -e f() { false; echo "still here"; } f || echo failed
That prints "still here". Because f is on the left of ||, errexit is turned off for everything inside it, however deep. It isn't something you can turn back on inside f. Same for if f; then, and for &&.
Also: local x=$(false) # exit status is local's, so 0
Assign on a separate line. And add set -o pipefail or the first half of a pipeline can fail and you won't hear about it.
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This is why I check every exit code by hand like an animal.
shellcheck catches the local one, SC2155. Not the first one, nothing can.
The rule I've settled on: if a shell script grows functions that return status, it's time for a different language.
And there's the other half of the thread. Every time.
I knew somebody would say that. It's 12 lines long!