Re: If not readdir() then what?

[Theodore Tso <tytso@mit.edu>]

On Sun, Apr 08, 2007 at 12:28:32PM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Theodore Tso wrote:
> >It doesn't state explicitly that you can use the telldir cookie()
> >after closing the directory stream using closedir() and then reopening
> >it using opendir(), but given that it states that results are
> >undefined after a rewinddir() --- which is much less violent than a
> >closedir()/opendir(), I would definitely argue that an application
> >programmer would be very ill-advised to rely on this working.
> >
> >(Of course, I'd argue that an application programmer shouldn't use
> >telldir/seekdir at all.....)
> >
> >Ulrich, is it too late to insert a clarification that the telldir()
> >cookie isn't guaranteed to be valid after closedir() *or* rewinddir()?
> 
> More fundamentally, the telldir cookie should never be valid when 
> applied to a different DIR * (even one that refers to the same directory.)

Well, Joern thought that rm -rf might relying on the telldir cookie
being valid in precisely that circumstance.  If that is true, I'd
argue that this is a BUG in GNU coreutils that should be fixed...

						- Ted