[Mono-bugs] [Bug 75608][Min] New - Gacutil can erroneously fail with data loss over NFS with a referenced assembly

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Changed by peter at newton.cx.

http://bugzilla.ximian.com/show_bug.cgi?id=75608

--- shadow/75608	2005-07-22 10:51:38.000000000 -0400
+++ shadow/75608.tmp.29409	2005-07-22 10:51:38.000000000 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+Bug#: 75608
+Product: Mono: Runtime
+Version: 1.1
+OS: 
+OS Details: 
+Status: NEW   
+Resolution: 
+Severity: 
+Priority: Minor
+Component: misc
+AssignedTo: mono-bugs at ximian.com                            
+ReportedBy: peter at newton.cx               
+QAContact: mono-bugs at ximian.com
+TargetMilestone: ---
+URL: 
+Cc: 
+Summary: Gacutil can erroneously fail with data loss over NFS with a referenced assembly
+
+Gacutil can erroneously fail when the GAC is shared over NFS and you're
+trying to install an assembly into the GAC that is currently referenced.
+When this happens, the copy of the assembly in the GAC is lost.
+
+Say I am installing a version of Foo.dll into the GAC. Say also that the
+assembly is already installed into the GAC and I'm updating it. (Eg, I am a
+developer working on Foo.dll.)
+
+As far as I can tell, gacutil's usual approach is:
+
+* Look at $PREFIX/mono/gac/Foo/<stuff>/ (call this directory D)
+* Delete all the files in D
+* rmdir D
+* Recreate D
+* Copy new files into D
+
+Now, if there happens to be a program running that uses Foo.dll, and we're
+on NFS, the following happens:
+
+* Gacutil looks at D
+* It gets a list of the files in D
+* It deletes all the files in D
+* When Foo.dll in D is deleted, the NFS server knows that it is still 
+  referenced (by the running program), so it creates a .nfsxxxxxxx 
+  temporary file
+* The call to rmdir D fails because D is not empty
+* Gacutil reports an error, and Foo.dll in the GAC has been lost
+
+Obviously this is a bit esoteric, and I'm not sure how fixable it is. But I
+actually am running into this in real-life conditions.