File access Windows / Linux

[leifbk]

I have mounted the C-disk on one of my Windows 2000 computers from Linux with smbfs. Is it safe to have a "tail -f results.txt" from the Windows computer running in an xterm on the Linux computer? DOS/Windows doesn't normally allow multiple programs to access the same file simultaneously, but how is it when the file is accessed remotely from another OS? And does tail -f qualify as "file access"?

I could of course just try, but I don't want to mess up my results.txt

BTW, does this question qualify for a FAQ?

regards, Leif.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by leifbk

I have mounted the C-disk on one of my Windows 2000 computers from Linux with smbfs. Is it safe to have a "tail -f results.txt" from the Windows computer running in an xterm on the Linux computer? DOS/Windows doesn't normally allow multiple programs to access the same file simultaneously, but how is it when the file is accessed remotely from another OS? And does tail -f qualify as "file access"?

I could of course just try, but I don't want to mess up my results.txt

BTW, does this question qualify for a FAQ?

regards, Leif.

I used to do something like that all the time when at MSR, so it should work for you. Yes, Microsoft Research did run a few Linux and BSD systems (and still does, AFAIK), and using SFU to get a Unix-like environment on a Windows box was quite common.

Beware: Windows has different buffering behaviour when IO redirection is in place. You will very probably find that the tail -f hangs around for a long time and then spits out 4k all at once.

First time I've ever seen anyone ask the question.

Paul

[leifbk]

Originally Posted by xilman

I used to do something like that all the time when at MSR, so it should work for you.

Thank you, Paul. It seems to work, as I thought that it should -- but I wanted a second opinion on it.

Originally Posted by xilman

Beware: Windows has different buffering behaviour when IO redirection is in place. You will very probably find that the tail -f hangs around for a long time and then spits out 4k all at once.

I don't see that behaviour here. The result pops up in my xterm window as soon as it's written to disk on the Windows box. But then, this is not an actual redirection in the technical sense, is it?

Originally Posted by xilman

First time I've ever seen anyone ask the question.

Well, - one time has to be the first, as we say here in Norway

regards, Leif.