US Patent 11283681 Enhancing discovery patterns with shell command exit status

A computing system includes a discovery application that identifies a computing device associated with a managed network. The application determines a first command that causes the computing device to invoke a function that provides as output attributes of the computing device. The command includes a parameter that suppresses any textual error messages that the function places in the output. The application also determines a second command that causes the computing device to provide a numerical exit status of the function. The application causes the computing device to execute the first and second commands, and obtains the output and the numerical exit status. Based on the numerical exit status, the application determines that the function did not fully obtain the attributes of the computing device and, in response, (i) modifies the first command, and (ii) causes the computing device to execute the first command as modified and the second command.