@Stefan Schippers: FYI, I ran

xschem -b -x -q --svg --plotfile _filename_ --rcfile _rcfilename_

_`bogus_symbol_path`_ (note the "bogus symbol path"---I had run this in the wrong directory), and xschem did not raise any error. This is not a major issue, but I think xschem should generate an error message and a non-zero exit code in this case.

I think it is fixed now.

schippes@asus:~$ xschem  -b -x -q --svg --plotfile xxx.svg --rcfile=.xschem/xschemrc bogus.sch || echo failed
failed

there are no errors since -b closes all standard i/o streams. use -r (get rid of tclreadline if it exists):

schippes@asus:~$ xschem  -r -x -q --svg --plotfile xxx.svg --rcfile=.xschem/xschemrc bogus.sch || echo failed
load_schematic(): unable to open file: /home/schippes/bogus.sch, fname=/home/schippes/bogus.sch

failed

The -r (or equivalent --pipe) is actually not necessary in this situation. When used in a pipeline xschem detects that and does not load the tclreadline package which would cause all sort of problems in case of input / output redirection. However the -r option is still there if 'used in a pipeline' detection fails for some reason or simply to get rid of tclreadline in the shell. Commands like this (stdin from a pipe, output redirected)

echo 'xschem load poweramp.sch; puts [xschem instance_list]; exit' | xschem -x  > instlist.txt

should work without fancy options.