On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 at 07:57, Christian Gollwitzer <aurio...@gmx.de> wrote: > > Am 10.02.22 um 20:43 schrieb Chris Angelico: > > On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 at 06:41, Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfr...@ix.netcom.com> > > wrote: > >> While not tested with Excel, I /have/ encountered cases where an > >> application has locked the file for writing, but multiple readers are > >> permitted. Those would fail then if one attempts to write. {The other view > >> point is a library that does a complete open/read\write-all/close to memory > >> -- such an application might open/read/close, then Excel opens/locks, with > >> the application only learning of the change when it attempts the > >> open/write/close cycle} > >> > > > > Yeah, I doubt Excel is that sophisticated. It's built on an assumption > > of single-user operation. > > > > It guards against multiple user opening the same file over network > drives. All MS applications create lock files with weird names like > ~.original-name.xlsx etc. If you open a file on the network share, and a > colleague tries to open it from a second machine, then he will get the > message "File locked by user xy from machine z". See here for word: > https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-the-document-is-locked-for-editing-by-another-user-error-message-when-you-try-to-open-a-document-in-word-10b92aeb-2e23-25e0-9110-370af6edb638 >
Yeah, but that's still just hard locking, no "one writer multiple readers" system or anything. > I believe (haven't tested) that this is cooperative locking only and it > doesn't help if you alter the file from another program. On the same > machine though, I think that Excel opens the file with a flag to lock it > from other processes. At least that was my observation and also what the > OP has described. > That sounds right; and, again, it's just a simple exclusive lock. Excel doesn't have the sophistication to need or want anything more than simple "I have this file, nobody else touch it" exclusive locking. ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list