Hard Links Considered Not Harmful (

[kai at uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu]

> You can configure deliver to use any combination of kernel locking and/or
> file creation locking, and you can vary delivery behavior based on just
> about anything.  Fcntl() or lockf(), for example.

This brings up a problem that I've run into before.  How do you lock
something that is located on an remote NFS file system?  Some people here
would like to have their mail delivered to a random directory instead of
/usr/spool/mail/<userid>.  Other people would like to be able to read mail
from any machine.  This requires some other locking mechanism.

Suns have some kind of specialized daemon, but that isn't generally
available.  Are lockfiles the only thing left?  Does anyone has something
that is the equivalent of a network flock?


Patrick Wolfe
System Manager, Kuck & Associates
pat at kai.com
{uiucuxc,sequent,alliant,uunet}!kailand!pat
pat at kai.com@uiucvmd.bitnet
pat%kai.com at uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
pat%kai.com at uiucuxc.arpa