Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site psuvax1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!psuvax1!dae From: dae@psuvax1.UUCP (David Eckhardt) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: More on 4.2 mail Message-ID: <1581@psuvax1.UUCP> Date: Sun, 9-Dec-84 20:10:20 EST Article-I.D.: psuvax1.1581 Posted: Sun Dec 9 20:10:20 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 10-Dec-84 03:26:33 EST References: <308@sdchema.UUCP> Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ. Lines: 22 > If you have a heavily loaded system and mail gets heavy use it's possible for > user's mailboxes to get scrambled through two processes writing to it at once. > Both sendmail and /bin/mail try to prevent this by establishing a lock file > while they're rewriting the mail file. Both (understandbly) have code that > allows a process to break the lock after some number of seconds. As we got > it, however, /bin/mail's time limit was 30 seconds. > > If anyone has a better fix I would much appreciate hearing about it. > > John Pierce, Chemistry, UC San Diego > {decvax,sdcsvax}!sdchema!jwp I've been considering using (on 4.2 systems, anyway) the flock(2) system call--that way you shouldn't have to worry about breaking locks prematurely. Can anybody think of any reason not to do this? -- Spoken: Dave Eckhardt Summoned: Daemon Net: dae @ { psuvax1. { bitnet, uucp } , penn-state.csnet} -> "I will have no covenants but proximities" <- Emerson