>> Ok then what about:
>> 
>> $ (exit 2)
>> $ a=`echo a; exit 3`
>> $ echo $?
>
>"0"
>
>> The expectation here is that $? refers to the `` pipeline.
>> ie it is possible to test the result of such items.
>
>No, absolutely not.  The last list (pipeline, whatever) is the
>assignment statement.

...which doesn't actually "execute" since it's even less of a built-in
than, eg, echo.  it can't have an exit code, per se, except perhaps as
a reflection of something that happened during the assignment.

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