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From: gregg@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (gregg.g.wonderly)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Locks and resources (was path-list stuff)
Message-ID: <13041@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 90 23:46:33 GMT
References: <130545@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 45

From article <130545@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, by cmcmanis@stpeter.Sun.COM (Chuck McManis):
> Bruce, you should get a copy of the program ShowLocks, you would notice
> that after running your code that there were a bunch of filelocks 
> hanging around. The reason is that you don't ever "UnLock" anything
> that you "Lock".
> 
> Otherwise you will be losing little chunks of memory right and left.

Which is precisely why I am looking forward to the release of an operating
system for the amiga which properly does resource management (i.e. frees
the resources that a process is using when it exits).  I thought that the
lesson of what happens in a computer when resources are not tracked was
learned ages ago (that is one of the reasons that VM was invented).  It
would have really been trival for Commodore to do this from the start.
Now we are all running around fighting for memory and resources and having
to reboot at the most inconvienent times just to fix design errors that
have existed for 3 releases over four years?  I don't mean to sound hateful,
but I really don't understand how you guys can enjoy using this environment!

I know that the resource thing has gone round and round before, so it is
probably worthless to bring it up again.  However, I certainly hope that
1.4 has done something to improve this situation.  I am certainly look
forward to AMIX.

While I am ranting and raving...  Is the FFS going to be fixed so that
it does updates to the state of a file in the correct order (i.e. data
first, and then the directory).  Based on the ease of corruption to the
filesystem when a GURU occurs, I can only guess that there is a basic
lack of ordering in the operations associated with extending a file by
adding a block.  Also, why is that files always have to be locked by
default?  I really get annoyed when I can not cat a file or tail it
while something is writing into it.  The operations on the filesystem
should be autonomous, so locking for the sake of presenting a sane view
should not be necessary.  If I want to lock access to a file, I should
be allowed to do so on my own!  People writing applications that
require file locking "KNOW" that they need it, and will use it
accordingly.

I guess that what I am asking is why can't Amiga Dos have all of the nice
attributes of UN*X resource control and still have the other functionalities
that it has now?  I really don't see why it doesn't nor why it can't!

-- 
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gregg.g.wonderly@att.com   (AT&T bell laboratories)