RE: Status code for creating lock-null resource

Bits snipped. All IMHO...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Kent [mailto:ajk@mds.rmit.edu.au]
> Sent: 28 June 2001 06:56
> To: w3c-dist-auth@w3.org
> Subject: Re: Status code for creating lock-null resource
> 
> Without the current LOCK semantics, you would have to do a PUT to
> create an empty file and then LOCK it. Does PUT have an OVERWRITE Y/N
> flag? (I dont have the spec handy). If it always overwrites, then
> there is the potential for a race condition.

There is no Overwrite with PUT. Unless you use one of the If-* headers, PUT
will overwrite the existing resource (assuming permissions etc are okay).
This is the kind of thing LOCK is suppose to deal with.

> 
> Personally I would say tough luck. The above seems important in /tmp
> or C:\temp etc, but not on a WebDAV file system. And there are lots of
> potentials for race conditions in other parts of WebDAV arn't there?
> (OK, so I don't actually know of any...). So why worry about one case
> when it makes things so much more confusing overall?
>
> Alan

There are lots of conditions and requests that conflict with each other, so
it is important. In fact, some servers have "undefined" behaviour.

Am I the only person who actually has no real big problem with lock-null
resources (LNRs) ?

Regards

Shaun Hall
Xerox Europe

Received on Thursday, 28 June 2001 08:50:42 UTC