Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What kinds of things would you want in the GNU OS?
Message-ID: <4372@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 1 Jun 89 16:18:29 GMT
References: <106326@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <4315@ficc.uu.net> <338@arc.UUCP> <16607@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>
Organization: Xenix Support
Lines: 18

In article <16607@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>, jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (John F. Haugh II) writes:
> The modification to the directory is very atomic, whereas the
> modification to a regular file is not.  The file is not locked automagically
> as is the case with directories.

Yes, I realise that this would be a problem with read-modify-write. but
the application in question didn't sound like it needed that... all it
needed was append (supported) and atomic reads/writes (supported) to maintain
consistency.

Can you see any case where a file open with O_APPEND could get out of
sync, when you're doing reads and writes that are known to be atomic
(that is, don't cross block boundaries)?
-- 
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.

Business: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180.
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