Re: VFS/fcntl() feature [PATCH]

Matthias Urlichs (smurf@noris.de)
31 Aug 1998 12:12:39 +0200


Jamie Lokier <lkd@tantalophile.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
> If we're going to give strange meanings to states, it would
> surely be tidier to add some new POLLXXX flags, with semantics that have
> meaning for both files and directories.
>
Right.

> What I meant about modifying files is, the select(2) behaviour suggested
> doesn't seem to allow me to know when one specific file is modified. [...]
> Actually I haven't a clue why I'd be interested in that information
> anyway.

"tail -f" for files. For directories, "sendmail" (instead of polling every
N seconds or using a FIFO).

Selecting for when a file lock goes away would be another good idea, though
you could implement that with a thread that blocks on the lock and then
writes a character into a pipe before dying. This method would actually be
nicer than a poll() because you'd have the lock when the poll (on the pipe,
of course) returns.

-- 
Matthias Urlichs      |        noris network GmbH      |       smurf@noris.de
The quote was selected randomly. Really.    |      http://www.noris.de/~smurf/
-- 
You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without
having asked any clear question.
			-Albert Camus

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