On 05/14/2020 12:20 PM, Samuel Sieb wrote:
Besides, you say the file doesn't vanish until the last program closes
it. While technically true, it's not practically true. Sure, the inode
still exists in the file system, but the name is gone or points to a
different file. So even if one application still has it open, another
one will get a different version and that's another potential failure
point.
Having the inode in use by a different file would be a nasty bug. The
only thing that makes sense is for the file to exist, although no longer
listed in the directory, but only accessible by files that were using it
before it was deleted. If you disagree, please explain why your case
makes sense and doesn't lead to file corruption.