Hi, assume I have an existing file 'pathname' and I want to rename it to 'pathnameN' (which does not exist). I use: res <- file.rename(pathname, pathnameN); Is it guaranteed that: (1) if res == TRUE, the file now have name 'pathnameN' and there is no file with name 'pathname'? (2) if res == FALSE, nothing has changed? or could it theoretically also be the case that (3) there are say two identical files named 'pathname' and 'pathnameN', (4) or worse, that neither exists? I can see how (3) could happen if the file is renamed by first using file.copy() and then file.remove() while there is lack of write/delete permission for the latter. Currently, my code asserts that (3) and (4) did not happen. Is that unnecessary - does file.rename() do that for me (regardless of OS)? Thanks Henrik
file.rename(): Guaranteed to be complete or not at all?
3 messages · Brian Ripley, Henrik Bengtsson
As the help says: This is subject to the limitations of the OS's corresponding system call: .... E.g. on Fedora 14 'man 2 rename' says, inter alia, 'If newpath already exists it will be atomically replaced (subject to a few conditions; see ERRORS below), so that there is no point at which another process attempting to access newpath will find it missing. However, when overwriting there will probably be a window in which both oldpath and newpath refer to the file being renamed. BUGS On NFS file systems, you can not assume that if the operation failed the file was not renamed.' and for Windows see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365240%28v=vs.85%29.aspx where R uses flags (MOVEFILE_REPLACE_EXISTING | MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED | MOVEFILE_WRITE_THROUGH) Windows 95 was an example of an OS which could delete the 'to' file and fail to move 'from'.
On Tue, 1 Mar 2011, Henrik Bengtsson wrote:
Hi, assume I have an existing file 'pathname' and I want to rename it to 'pathnameN' (which does not exist). I use: res <- file.rename(pathname, pathnameN); Is it guaranteed that: (1) if res == TRUE, the file now have name 'pathnameN' and there is no file with name 'pathname'? (2) if res == FALSE, nothing has changed? or could it theoretically also be the case that (3) there are say two identical files named 'pathname' and 'pathnameN', (4) or worse, that neither exists? I can see how (3) could happen if the file is renamed by first using file.copy() and then file.remove() while there is lack of write/delete permission for the latter. Currently, my code asserts that (3) and (4) did not happen. Is that unnecessary - does file.rename() do that for me (regardless of OS)? Thanks Henrik
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Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
Thank you very much for these pointers. In order to lower the risk for proceeding unknowingly with (3) or (4), I'll keep my post-rename tests for them (understanding that it is still not bullet proof). /Henrik On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 11:01 PM, Prof Brian Ripley
<ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk> wrote:
As the help says: ?This is subject to the limitations of the OS's corresponding system ?call: .... E.g. on Fedora 14 'man 2 rename' says, inter alia, 'If newpath already exists it will be atomically replaced (subject to a few conditions; see ERRORS below), so that there is no point at which another process attempting to access newpath will find it missing. However, when overwriting there will probably be a window in which both oldpath and newpath refer to the file being renamed. BUGS On NFS file systems, you can not assume that if the operation failed the file was not renamed.' and for Windows see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365240%28v=vs.85%29.aspx where R uses flags (MOVEFILE_REPLACE_EXISTING | MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED | MOVEFILE_WRITE_THROUGH) Windows 95 was an example of an OS which could delete the 'to' file and fail to move 'from'. On Tue, 1 Mar 2011, Henrik Bengtsson wrote:
Hi, assume I have an existing file 'pathname' and I want to rename it to 'pathnameN' (which does not exist). ?I use: res <- file.rename(pathname, pathnameN); Is it guaranteed that: (1) if res == TRUE, the file now have name 'pathnameN' and there is no file with name 'pathname'? (2) if res == FALSE, nothing has changed? or could it theoretically also be the case that (3) there are say two identical files named 'pathname' and 'pathnameN', (4) or worse, that neither exists? I can see how (3) could happen if the file is renamed by first using file.copy() and then file.remove() while there is lack of write/delete permission for the latter. Currently, my code asserts that (3) and (4) did not happen. ?Is that unnecessary - does file.rename() do that for me (regardless of OS)? Thanks Henrik
______________________________________________ R-devel at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
-- Brian D. Ripley, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, ?http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, ? ? ? ? ? ? Tel: ?+44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Fax: ?+44 1865 272595