Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!yale!cmcl2!beta!a!jlg
From: jlg@a.UUCP (Jim Giles)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: I would like to have an argumen
Message-ID: <515@a.UUCP>
Date: 15 Mar 88 00:53:59 GMT
References: <720@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> <32300004@ccvaxa>
Organization: Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, N.M.
Lines: 18
Summary: Scratch files

> UNIX not having temporary files
> versus the open/unlink trick that keeps your file open until
> your process dies.

This won't work on most UNIX systems if you want to be able to 
conduct an adequate post-mortem on a job that dies prematurely.
The contents of a scratch file may be vital in determining the
problem.  Since UNIX doesn't contain a restart capability for
aborted jobs, this problem is not as great as it might be (but
the lack of a post-mortem restart facility severly impairs 
the UNIX environment).  Since the standard doesn't specify what
should happen when a job terminates abnormally, I recommend
that the I/O library should not destroy scratch files until
a NORMAL termination.  This leaves a method to debug code 
corpses.

J. Giles
Los Alamos