Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!pacbell!att-ih!ttrdc!levy
From: levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: I would like to have an argumen
Message-ID: <2232@ttrdc.UUCP>
Date: 11 Mar 88 18:14:33 GMT
References: <720@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> <68000011@convex>
Organization: AT&T, Skokie, IL
Lines: 41

In article <68000011@convex>, hutchson@convex.UUCP writes:
> I work on unix now, and I miss temporary files.  Yes, I know about mktemp:
> it doesn't work at all well, and I wrote a better one for my own uses.  But
> there is no such thing on unix as a temporary file that steals SWIFTLY and
> silently away as soon as the job finishes executing.  This is not a feature;
> this is a severe limitation!  It is not possible to simulate temporary files
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> on unix without great effort; it is a pain even to pretend to simulate it.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I'd challenge that.  Files which are open when they are unlinked stick around
until the process that opened them terminates.

What's so hard about:

	char *tmpfnam = mktemp("/tmp/XXXXXX");
	int fd = creat(tmpfnam,MODE);
	unlink (tmpfnam);	/* You can still scribble in the temp file,
				 * and read it, via the file descriptor.
				 * It goes away when the process terminates.
				 */
or in f77

	character*16 tmpnam
	open (unit=1,status='scratch')
	inquire (unit=1, name=tmpnam)
	open (unit=2,file=tmpnam,status='old')
	close (unit=2, status='delete')
C or for the two lines immediately above, substitute
C
C	call system('rm -f '//tmpnam)
C
C	now you can access your scratch file through logical unit 1
C	and even if the program dies abnormally, the scratch file goes
C	away
-- 
|------------Dan Levy------------|  Path: ..!{akgua,homxb,ihnp4,ltuxa,mvuxa,
|         an Engihacker @        |  	<most AT&T machines>}!ttrdc!ttrda!levy
| AT&T Computer Systems Division |  Disclaimer?  Huh?  What disclaimer???
|--------Skokie, Illinois--------|