[Scamper-dev] scamper

[Tony McGregor]

On Thu, 1 May 2003, Matthew Luckie wrote:

> my understanding of unix files is that until i close a current file
> handle, i'll still access the old copy of a file even if a new one has
> been written over the top of the old one.  so, I will not close the file
> handle at the end of reading a list, unless there is a new address list,
> which is indicated with a SIGHUP at any stage before I get to the end of
> the list to indicate that there is a new list for me when i finish this
> list.

That's not quite right.  If the file is updated by deleting the old
one then creating a new file with the same name then you won't see the
chance until you close the file and open it again.

But, if the file updated by opening the old file for write and writing
overtop of it you will see the changes at the end of the write.