Re: install not atomic

[Mike Frysinger]

On Sunday 28 February 2010 03:35:19 Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> Hello bug-coreutils readers,
> 
> a recent GCC bug report[1] the GNU install program is not atomic; i.e.,
> when you
>   install file $dest & install file $dest
> 
> then one of them may fail.  For reproducability purposes, use several
> large files, and call in a loop.
> 
> I suppose it's fine for install to have this limitation, as it's
> arguably a bug (or limitation) in the build system, and there is no
> standard or documentation stating otherwise, but the behavior was
> sufficiently surprising to me that I thought I'd write about it here
> nonetheless.

doesnt the same limitation exist in ln/mv/etc... ?

touch a; while :; do (ln -f a f &) ; done
        <bunches of different errors>

and i'm not sure things can be "fixed" in the programs ... so documenting the 
limitation sounds like the only sane solution
-mike

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