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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2025 05:02:51 +0000
Subject: Re: Tentative File Open & Safe Save
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
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From: "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net>
Organization: wokiesux
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:02:50 -0500
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On 1/24/25 2:08 PM, Rich wrote:
> 186282@ud0s4.net <186283@ud0s4.net> wrote:
>> On 1/23/25 7:39 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>> When developing an app, saving changes that a user has made to a document
>>> needs to be managed carefully. Simply overwriting the existing file with
>>> the new data can cause trouble, if your app (or the system) should crash
>>> part-way through, because then the file ends up with some part of the old
>>> document overwritten with the new one, and so the user ends up without a
>>> valid copy of either the old or the new version -- in effect, all their
>>> work is lost.
>>>
>>
>>    Of course systems CAN glitch at any time, often for
>>    totally mysterious reasons - power maybe, minor
>>    coding error only hit 1:1000 times, cosmic rays ....
>>    so if yer stuff is SUPER important, like tax docs
>>    or whatever .......
> 
> Third option:
> 
> Use a Sqlite file as the "file" the app uses, and delegate all the ugly
> aspects of atomic file "adjusting" and "storing" to Sqlite (which by
> now has mitigations for issues most individual developers will never
> see nor hear of).
> 
> Plus, a Sqlite file would allow a very easy "versioned file" setup as
> well.
> 
> Downside: one has to have an Sqlite module for one's language availble,
> or one has to include Sqlite's driver in one's app.

   I looked into this a bit ... it's a potential solution,
   but seems, well, a little TOO for the issue at hand.

   If using Word or Excel, the system continually creates
   temp files of every little change every X minutes. My
   bitch is that sometimes if FORGETS to delete all those
   files after (had to add a filter to my backup pgms) - but
   I'm not bitching about the CONCEPT.

   Basically ANY programming language allows easy use of
   that particular kind of solution. No add-ons needed.

   Let's say I'm a fan of "KISS" solutions.

   A concern is systems that update ALL OF THE TIME like
   databases. Keeping in-transaction copies of every little
   file is less fun. Totally do-able, and oft is, but
   less fun. Multi-user record-only-locked files makes
   it even more less fun.

   But, alas, abrupt crashes/lockups or user madness is
   STILL a real problem so SOMETHING has to be done.
   Computers are machines, and machines fuck up and/or
   CAN be fucked-up.