Re: [boost] Review Request: Filesystem Library

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-08-03 12:13:17

From: "James Dennett" <jdennett_at_[hidden]>

> > Please give two examples of a program that needs to delete a file and
which
> > cares not only that the file has been deleted, but that its own call to
the
> > OS was the one responsible for the deletion.
>
> Wrong question?  The issue is whether the file really
> _has_ been deleted, or has just otherwise become
> (possibly temporarily) inaccessible.
>
> If I (via some program) was about to delete
> a file "private_data/my_passwords" and failed because
> somebody unmounted the relevant filesystem from under
> me, I want to know -- the point of my delete request
> was not that *I* don't want to be able to access the
> file, but that I want the file gone, deleted, so that
> others cannot access it.
>
> The only way for a program to know that a file has really
> been deleted, often, is for the OS to report success for
> the delete operation.
>
> This argues that it is right for a delete operation to
> say whether it did the job, rather than just reporting
> on the existence or otherwise of the file.

OK; clearly others are thinking about this more deeply than I am. I
withdraw.

Sorry,
Dave

-----------------------------------------------------------
           David Abrahams * Boost Consulting
dave_at_[hidden] * http://www.boost-consulting.com