From: Randal L. Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:42:05 GMT
Subject: Re: [RFC/PATCH] Implement poor-man's submodule support using commit hooks
Message-ID: <86y7p21smq.fsf@blue.stonehenge.com>
In-Reply-To: <200612201440.41784.andyparkins@gmail.com>

>>>>> "Andy" == Andy Parkins <andyparkins@gmail.com> writes:

Andy>  fd_old = open( "someexistingfile" );
Andy>  unlink( "someexistingfile" );
Andy>  fd_new = open( "someexistingfile" );

This is dangerous if the process aborts suddenly.

Might be better to do this:

mumble_command < thefile > thefile.$$
mv thefile.$$ thefile

The second move will be atomic.  The only problem will be if the process
aborts, which will leave stale temp files around.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.