File Locking Conflicts - Are there any pitfalls ?

[Heather Coppersmith]

On 6 Jul 2004 06:10:08 -0700,
geskerrett at hotmail.com (Geoffrey) wrote:

> What we haven't been able to ascertain is whether or not there
> are any potential "conflicts" between reading and processing the
> file in python if the "primary" application also reading/writing
> and processing the file.

> It is our understanding that as long as the python app is "read
> only" and both apps are using the same file locking mechanism
> (ie. the same underlying OS), there should not be any conflicts.

"The same underlying OS" may not be sufficient.  Your "primary"
application may have other locking mechanisms built on top of the
low-level OS-provided locks, or require that applications acquire
those locks in a particular order, or impose other restrictions.

I would check with the vendor/documentation of your "primary"
appliction; they would be the authority on a question like this.

Regards,
Heather

-- 
Heather Coppersmith
That's not right; that's not even wrong. -- Wolfgang Pauli