Is file finished writing?

[David Jacopille]

I'm looking for some strategies to determine when other applications 
are finished writing a file.  I've got a script printing page layout 
files to postscript in rapid fashion.  I'd like to move the postscript 
to another location for some additional modifications as fast as 
possible.  I can't figure out how to have my perl script NOT move those 
postscript files that are in the process of being written.

I've tried checking the -w status but that seems to check the files 
permissions settings which apparently are writable even if while the 
file is being actively written by the page layout app.  I've tried last 
access time > 2 seconds or modification date > 2 seconds  but those 
don't quite seem to work.

Opening a filehandle for writing seems to give an error if the file is 
still being written - is that the best way?

Isn't there a very direct way to ask if a file is not in the middle of 
being written by any other process?

Thanks,
Dave
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