EXCL without CREAT

[Henry Spencer]

> ] utzoo!henry points out problem of fool opening/locking /etc/passwd
> ] and claims that adding open("arg", O_READ|EXCL) re-invents flock()
> 
> Doesn't re-invent flock() -- open()/flock() is not an atomic action.

Who cares if the open() succeeds, so long as the process doesn't do
anything to the file until a successful flock()?  The sequence is not
atomic, but that doesn't matter.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry