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Path: utzoo!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
From: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Re: RMS v/s UNIX (non-religious)
Message-ID: <1080@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Mar-85 10:43:13 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.1080
Posted: Thu Mar  7 10:43:13 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 8-Mar-85 03:27:03 EST
References: <917@sjuvax.UUCP> <538@rlgvax.UUCP> <2799@dartvax.UUCP> <5178@utzoo.UUCP>
Reply-To: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 24

In article <5178@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes:

>> As a miniumum, by default if one process has a file open with write 
>> permission no other process should be able to read or write that file.

>Of course, this means that (for example) you can't read a log file as
>it is being produced to watch what's happening.

Probably a much better 'minimum' idea would be to disallow two people
writing at once to avoid data corruption, but to allow simultaneous
reads and one write.  This type of thing is implemented on CMS as
well, where one can access a minidisk as READ, WRITE or MULTIWRITE.
It's always possible to access a file as READ, but WRITE is only
available if no one else is writing it.  If you want to write
simultaneously, you must use MULTIWRITE, which is potentially very
dangerous.


				   \tom haapanen
				   watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
Don't cry, don't do anything
No lies, back in the government
No tears, party time is here again
President Gas is up for president		 (c) Psychedelic Furs, 1982