On Thu, 10 Feb 2000, Bill Studenmund wrote:

> > > 	Just curious - can the SIGINFO hack cause problems if pax is
> > > 	being used to read/write to an actual tape device?
> > 
> > I don't think read/write is always atomic, but, ... well, ...
> > I'm not sure --- this is the reason I'm sending to tech-kern. :-)
> 
> A successful read or write should be atomic. NFS kinda bends the rules a
> bit, but other than that, your write should fully complete before (or
> after) someone else's.

	It may be atomic - is the issue with short reads or writes
	to a tape device that could be less than ideal.

	In most cases it would probably just reduce the efficiency...	


		David/absolute