On Fri Dec 19 14:24:52 EST 2008, [email protected] wrote: > > client by definition knows more than the server. > > i assume you mean "knows less"? the server knows where EOF is and > which files to enforce append-only on. your #1 seems to only exist > because the client doesn't have that info.
i think it's deeper than that. if the server has instructions to stick the write at the end of the file, the server has the ability to prevent any other writes while executing the append. doing this at the client side is hard because regardless of the client's knowledge, there can be other clients which also believe they know things equally well and without some sort of locking or other shenagins on the side, there's a race. the server is almost by definition in a better position to append than the client. - erik
