Re: interrupting `shred -u's renaming: what should it do?

[Paul Jarc]

address@hidden (Bob Proulx) wrote:
> Hmm...  Is there a way to rename atomically with a guarentee that it
> will fail if the target exists?

No, but atomicity isn't the problem.  The problem is what to do if a
new file has appeared with the original name.  Would we leave the
operand file in place with its temporary name?  Then, since that case
would exist anyway, is it still worthwhile to even try to move it back
to the original name?


paul