🚀 go-pugleaf

I discovered the following when trying to use "mv" to rename a directory in
order to syncronize a shell script so that only one could operate on a set
of files at one time under circumstances where more than one instance might
get started at once occaisionally.  The shell script runs in the background
and today I had a situation where a couple of them got started in parallel.

When two (or more) "mv" commands try to rename the same file OR DIRECTORY
to two DIFFERENT names at the same time, the result can be two separate
hard links to the same inode.  In the case of directories, "ln" (or the
underlying system call) will refuse to allow this to happen except if the
uid is root.

While the non-atomic nature of "mv" might cause some syncronizing problems
with shell scripts that assume it is atomic, the fact that this can happen
to directories appears to be a more serious problem.

Has this been reported anywhere yet?
-- 

--Phil Howard, KA9WGN-- | Individual CHOICE is fundamental to a free society
<phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> | no matter what the particular issue is all about.