[comp.sys.amiga] Protect Failed

macdonald@mtwain.dec.com (Paul MacDonald - CUP/ML - 223-3439) (10/29/88)

Whenever I have attempted to change the archive bit on a number
of files in a directory, almost invariably this message appears.

For example, on my root directory,

PROTECT #? +a

changes the archive bit on most of the files, but not all. For
example, the libs directory seems to be impossible to change the
archive bit. Some individual files are likewise impossible to change.

Any thoughts on this?

Paul

andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (11/01/88)

In article <8810281416.AA01431@decwrl.dec.com> macdonald@mtwain.dec.com (Paul MacDonald - CUP/ML - 223-3439) writes:
>Whenever I have attempted to change the archive bit on a number
>of files in a directory, almost invariably this message appears.
>
>For example, on my root directory,
>
>PROTECT #? +a
>
>changes the archive bit on most of the files, but not all. For
>example, the libs directory seems to be impossible to change the
>archive bit. Some individual files are likewise impossible to change.

Any file currently in use can't have its protection bits changes
(under 1.1, 1.2, 1.3)  Locks (ie Assigns) count as 'in use'.
-- 
andy finkel		{uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy
Commodore-Amiga, Inc.

"I first began to lose faith in software engineering when I found out
 that no two printers were compatible."

Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share.
I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.

page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (11/01/88)

[followups to comp.sys.amiga.tech]

andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) wrote:
>Any file currently in use can't have its protection bits changes
>(under 1.1, 1.2, 1.3)  Locks (ie Assigns) count as 'in use'.

So why can't you look at "in use" file system resources?

This has always seemed arbitrary to me, especially something as
harmless as poking attribute bits in the fileheader when another
process is reading the data in the file.

But the real reason is I want to do the Unix equivalent of

datagenerator >>logfile
tail -f file

Sure, I can say
	datagenerator | tee >>logfile
but that begs the question.  I'm sure the answer can't be "because we
want to avoid race conditions" when you have something as notorious as
ExNext() out there.

I also like to download lots of files to ram and would like to know
how big a transcript/capture file is, but I can't until I close the
file.  Reminds me of some other three-letter operating system's file
system.

Is the real reason "because that's the way we inherited it" ??

..Bob
-- 
Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept.  page@swan.ulowell.edu  ulowell!page
Have five nice days.