[Python-Dev] Coernic Desktop Search versus shutil.rmtree (original) (raw)

Aahz aahz at pythoncraft.com
Fri Sep 3 02:11:01 CEST 2004

On Thu, Sep 02, 2004, Tim Peters wrote:

[Tim]

The cause: Windows has low-level hooks for apps that want to monitor changes to the filesystem. For example, virus scanners use those heavily. Coernic also uses them, to reindex changed files in the background. So it can keep a file open beyond the time Python thinks it deleted it, and then trying to rmdir its parent directory fails (because the directory isn't really empty yet). [Aahz] What happens when you use Windows Exploder to delete the folder? I didn't try Explorer specifically. Since I was in a DOS box anyway, I used rmdir/s to clean it out. I'm sure using Explorer would have worked too. This is a timing problem. By the time I can click on the folder to delete it in Explorer, or by the time I can type "rmdir/s xx", Copernic is long done reindexing the files, so there's no problem nuking the directory then. shutil.rmtree issues the rmdir at machine speed.

Question is, what happens when you use Explorer while Coernic is busy inside a folder? If it barfs, then I think it's reasonable for rmtree() to barf. Or are you saying that it's not possible to make that test?

Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"I saw `cout' being shifted "Hello world" times to the left and stopped right there." --Steve Gonedes

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