Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!nsc!taux01!amos
From: amos@taux01.nsc.com (Amos Shapir)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sequent
Subject: Re: binary remove
Message-ID: <4195@taux01.nsc.com>
Date: 12 Jul 90 06:35:12 GMT
References: <5063@ethz.UUCP>
Organization: National Semiconductor (IC) Ltd, Israel, Home of the Series 32000
Lines: 24
X-Hdate: 19 Tamuz 5750

In article <5063@ethz.UUCP> ruehl@ethz.UUCP (Roland Ruehl) writes:
>
>Does anybody know if a running program on the Symmetry may crash
>because (while it is running) the binary is removed from the disk ? Can
>I prevent a program crash by restoring the binary at the place where it
>was started and afterwards removed ?

As in any UNIX system, a file is not actually destroyed, only its name
in the directory is removed.  As long as the file has a hard link in
another directory, or is still open (for reading, writing or execution)
it (its inode, actually) stays on the disk.  A file is only destroyed 
when the last process which uses it does a "close" or exits.

Restoring the binary does not do anything in that regard, since it creates
a *different* file with the same name and contents.

On the other hand, some systems have a bug which cause them to crash
when a large number of files are removed and created at a short time.
Symmetry might have inherited this bug.

-- 
	Amos Shapir		amos@taux01.nsc.com, amos@nsc.nsc.com
National Semiconductor (Israel) P.O.B. 3007, Herzlia 46104, Israel
Tel. +972 52 522408  TWX: 33691, fax: +972-52-558322 GEO: 34 48 E / 32 10 N